STAGE 5 · MASTERLEVEL · Advanced6 LESSONSABOUT 35 MINLAW, TAXES & THE STATE
Money and the state have been intertwined for a century. This course is about what happens when a money appears that the state did not issue and cannot print: how states respond, what they can and cannot do, and why people in the hardest places were the first to care. Six lessons, about 40 minutes.
BY THE END OF THIS COURSE YOU WILL BE ABLE TO
- Explain financial repression with historical numbers
- Say what a CBDC can do that cash cannot, and why that matters
- Describe the regulatory tools states have and their limits
- Assess the strategic reserve idea without hype
- Make the human-rights case with real examples
Every lesson ends with a quiz or a challenge; the course is complete when each lesson is.
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LESSONS
01Financial repressionGovernments shrink their debts by holding interest rates below inflation, so savers lose and debtors gain. It paid off the Second World War, and it is back.▶ 1✓ quiz⚡ challenge6 MIN✓02CBDCs and programmable moneyA CBDC is central-bank money on a central-bank ledger: fully visible, freezable and programmable. It is the opposite of cash, and of bitcoin.▶ 1✓ quiz6 MIN✓03Regulation, bans and what actually worksStates control the on-ramps: exchanges, banks, taxes, licences. They cannot control the network, and every national ban has pushed activity underground rather than ending it.▶ 1✓ quiz6 MIN✓04Strategic reserves and state adoptionStates holding bitcoin as a reserve is no longer hypothetical. The case for is game theory; the bitcoiner case against is concentration and politicisation.▶ 1✓ quiz6 MIN✓05Seizure, confiscation and self-custodyBitcoin in self-custody cannot be taken without the keys, which must be found or coerced. Custodians make seizure a paperwork exercise. 1933 is the precedent.✓ quiz5 MIN✓06Bitcoin as a human-rights toolFor people under authoritarian governments or collapsing currencies, uncensorable, unconfiscatable money is not a thought experiment. The cases are documented.▶ 1✓ quiz6 MIN✓