Sixteen years of cryptocurrency

On March 6th of this year, Trump signed an executive order announcing the establishment of a "strategic Bitcoin reserve," stating that the US government would not sell its existing approximately 200,000 Bitcoins and would continue to increase its holdings in a "budget-neutral" manner. On July 18th, he signed the Genius Act, establishing regulatory rules for stablecoins pegged to the US dollar. Simultaneously, Hong Kong's Stablecoin Ordinance officially came into effect on August 1st, establishing a framework for licensing, reserve regulation, and redemption guarantees. The cryptocurrency industry, born 16 years ago, has long resided in the "Wild West," a region beyond the reach of state power, due to its decentralized nature, yet it has quietly grown into a massive industry with a total market capitalization exceeding $3.5 trillion. The current flurry of regulations signifies that this industry is being incorporated into the mainstream financial order. Two underlying principles permeate cryptocurrency: one originates from the "cypherpunk movement" of the 1990s, using encryption technology to defend privacy and freedom. Another approach comes from the history of economic thought, tracing back to Hayek's 1976 work, *The Denationalization of Money*. This article rereads this book at this moment, following Hayek's line of thought to revisit the origins of money, the monopoly of the right to mint coins, and the experiments of private minting in cyberspace.

"The Denationalization of Currency"