Post
Topic
Board Economics
Re: Inflation, Fractional Reserve, and Bitcoins
by
Red
on 03/08/2010, 04:21:22 UTC
Not true. If I deposit 100 bitcoins at a bank, the bank lends out 90, and I want to withdraw my 100 bitcoins, the bank is screwed. Even if they lend out 25, the bank is screwed.

On demand deposits simply cannot be loaned out if a banking system is to ultimately remain stable. Sure, some banks can try to do it, but then they better not call them "on demand deposits". Deposits can be loaned out, but not with a guarantee of redemption. That is simply impossible as Bitcoins cannot be created out of thin air.

Not to pick on Bitcoiner, I've seen this line of reasoning in lots of threads. However, it is bunk as it leaves out obviously everyday solutions currently in use.

Obviously if there is "a run" on a bank's cash reserve, their obviously most common solution is to BORROW cash at interest from another bank. Sometimes this money comes from a central bank, but normally it comes from one of the other banks who are not experiencing "a run" on their cash.

A bank does not "go bankrupt" when it runs out of cash. It goes bankrupt when it runs out of credit worthiness. Banking is always based upon trust in the bankers making the decisions.

By the way, your bitcoin wallet is never "a bank" for any sense of the term "bank" that doesn't start with "piggy". It is more properly termed "a hoard". In the same sense that storing cash in a mattress, safe or piggybank would be a hoard.

A bank's deposits are always in the economic flow. That is the only way banks are able to pay interest. The interest comes because other people use the cash to create more commodity value, that in-turn translates back into cash to repay the loan with interest.

The last thing you want your bank to be doing is hoarding your cash. They couldn't pay you any interest, and would have to charge you a fee for safe storage of your money. It would be cheaper to put it in a mattress and buy a gun. So much for 100% reserve banks. They would be worth-less than fractional reserve banks to everyone.