Did you know that the Riksbank, the Swedish central bank, decided last year to burn 2.6 million kronor (Swedish currency) in cash that was found in a deceased person’s estate? That the central bank confiscated half a million kronor from a 95-year-old woman? That bank customers - individuals and businesses - are being de-platformed from banking services after trading in cryptocurrencies, that a major bank closed the account of a Swedish journalist last year, or that British banks are denying their customers the ability to transfer their own money to cryptocurrency exchanges?

The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that’s required to make it work. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tank#/media/File:Front_view_of_a_Ariete_tank.jpg featured_image: 'https://underorion.se/1/Martian_face_viking_cropped.jpg' images: ['https://underorion.se/1/Martian_face_viking_cropped.jpg'] -- Satoshi Nakamoto -- The financial system / the banking sector has arguably increasingly been used as a political tool over the past several years, sometimes an extra-legal one. And not only against various “axis of evil” countries but also against domestic citizens or groups.

“What is going on!?” my three-year-old exlaimed at the breakfast table the other day. And it’s indeed a valid question. Energy and food prices have been skyrocketing, yet another epidemic (monkeypox) has recently appeared to be spreading - at least it was declared a global emergency this past summer, and the world’s central bankers are changing their minds so quickly one suspects that they might soon land on their buttocks (perhaps in butter).

Truth be told, investing legend Hugh Hendry had a point when he recently said that “central bankers don’t understand money, they only pretend”. But before we merely assign blame to this modern clergy of ours, one might as well note that few of us actually seem to understand money. The essence of money does deserve to be discussed however, even by non-central bankers.