Tuesday, February 19, 2019

The gold standard illustrates the same issue

Under a good, working gold standard, I can take my gold certificate and, unknown to the gold banker, drive south 200 miles and redeem it for gold. The gold banker cannot have duplicate gold, it has to run a reserve system by default and makes up the deficiency with an armored car delivery during the night.

My ability to move the gold certificate is hidden information, I never tell the gold banker, that is the point. Nor do I tell him how long I will hold it, I am opportunistic.

What do gold standards work?

Because the delivery variance is less  than for a truck load of eggs. Gold is rare, it can be delivered off hours, will not spoil, dense.  The gold standard works for industrial societies that move precious metals for productions. Gold is better than 97% reserve ratio, but less than 100%.

Do gold standard work in sand box?

Yes, work great, but sandbox only partially offsets delivery variance, gold is still a dense metal. I actually expect a gold standard to emerge with a backing digital certificate, or block chain entry. That digi-token would garner quite a bit of market share. This is something JPM could do, and make a market between gold token and their own internal currency.

The key to sandbox gold certificates is variable delivery fees as the gold digi-tokens can move at light speed.  Users have an exit fee, they can be hit ad hoc depending upon gold imbalances because gold ain't light speed. Gold can be moved over night, though, damn near good enough to keep reserves ratio high. Just make sure you have a stop on exit contract on sudden imbalances as the message boards will conceive plots to foul the pit boss.

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