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?

In the iconic scene from the 1999 film The Matrix, the protagonist Neo is presented with a choice between two pills - the red pill, which reveals true reality, or the blue pill, which allows him to remain in his mundane existence, unaware of the choice he has made. This metaphor has become a popular trope on social media over the past decade, with the term “pill” being used to describe a sudden realization or enlightenment.

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).