“A payment is simply a credit entry to one account and a debit entry to another. This is a database entry. We were confident that if we attracted enough people into the system, the money would remain in it all the time.”
David Sacks. (one of the founders of the Pay Pal payment system)
In many areas, shearing or renting is being introduced, when people give others something for temporary use. But there are other situations when someone is using something that belongs to you, but you don’t even know about it.
The principle is simple - you may not know, but right now at this moment, the tools, various techniques and equipment that belong to you can be put to good use and benefit others, and not stand idle. There is probably nothing wrong with this when something does not stand idle but brings benefits to people and society. If it really serves such good purposes. (And if not…?)
In the financial sector, situations of multiple , and in some cases even simultaneous use of the same money are considered natural. And it will be an exception when this does not happen. This is how money is made to work, but the benefit goes not to the owners of this money, but to those who create systems with the help of which they ensure repeated or simultaneous use of the same money. Which is similar to the effect of creating new money. The details of the operation of systems that ensure multiple and simultaneous use of the same money are not usually covered. Because this is precisely the way to make every person a participant and investor in the system without his consent. And it is a big misconception to believe that someone who keeps their savings at home under the mattress is not an investor and participant. (These are the ones who are used most of all, without their knowledge)
Payment systems
Many people associate payment systems with the ability to pay via the Internet.
Paypal, Webmoney, Yandex money, qiwi and many others position themselves as payment systems and money gateways that provide the opportunity to transfer money from point A to point B. At point A, real money is exchanged for an equivalent value of conventional units. At point B, the reverse conversion takes place. Usually, both direct and reverse conversion occurs with a commission; these commissions constitute the main earnings of these payment systems.
What is really happening and what is the actual calculation of the creators of such payment systems.
People try the payment system as a method of money transfers or a way to pay for goods or services. They enter and withdraw money from there and make sure it works.
People are starting to put money into the system, not only for the amount that needs to be transferred, but also “in reserve” so as not to “have to go twice”
The receiving party is also in no hurry to withdraw money from their digital wallets. After all, this can be done later, “they are mine anyway.” Moreover, it becomes possible to buy and pay with such digital money.
As a result of such simple trends, money appears in the payment system that DOES NOT LEAVE IT. This is the real goal of creating any payment system - precisely for the sake of such money that creates a constant minimum balance. This gives the payment system the capabilities of banks. Because this money can be made to work several times and make a profit from it.
In fact, all modern money is payment systems. There is simply a nesting doll principle, when many small payment systems operate on the basis of the main system, which positions itself as “real money”.
And the initial - the initial information that paper money has long been not real money itself has already been forgotten by many. Paper money has always been just information - an agreement on how much real money in the form of gold, silver or other valuable items was transferred for temporary storage.
Paper money has become such an integral part of our lives that all people understand and consider as money what state central banks print as money. But this is NOT money, but also a huge payment system.
What's the difference ? The difference is that only something that has a guaranteed equivalent of material value (gold, silver...) can be money. The conventional units of settlement systems are simply a measure of counting. And in this sense, payment systems like Pay Pal or Webmoney have the least questions, because they do not position themselves as money, but clearly and clearly say - we are a payment system, we are a method of payment, we are a method of transfer. And everything would be fine if such payment systems were created on the basis of real money - in the full sense of the word money. But all these payment systems are also created on the basis of payment systems, and it turns out that in this system, which has been built over years and decades, there is no foundation.
So everything will collapse? To answer this question, let us first imagine a situation in which the owners of paper money decided to exchange them for an equivalent amount of gold. And this was indeed possible during the time of the gold standard, this possibility was declared, but of course it did not mean that all people would run to exchange paper bills for gold. ( but Charles de Gaulle managed ). In this case, there is something to fall in case of default and refusal to make such an exchange. In the modern version of “money,” there is simply nothing to fall, or rather, the possibility of falling is delegated (or shifted) to the one who uses such money.
Economists say that money needs to be regulated, which on their part amounts to manipulating the quantity of money supply. And this seems obvious to the average person - the monetary system should serve the interests of the economy, and only the state knows how much of this money should be in the economy. But this is not true. Nikolai Orem also substantiated that the amount of money in the economy can and should remain unchanged. And to his observation we can only add - YES, the amount of money in the economy can and should be a constant, provided that there are many payment systems. There can and should be an infinite number of payment systems. The payment system precisely provides situations - multiple , and in some cases even simultaneous use of the same money, without creating the situation “There is no money, but you are holding on.”
But it will be difficult to give an example of a decent payment system, precisely for the reason already mentioned - among the most common payment systems there is not a single payment system that would be created on the basis of real money. All of them are just gateways for the transfer of what we are forced to consider money. Also, such payment systems become points of aggregation (storage) of these “currency” symbols, creating opportunities for multiple and simultaneous use of your money, without your knowledge and, of course, without your benefit.
In such payment systems, of course, there is no open information about how many digital currency units are actually created. And the hidden creation of unsecured digital units opens up in such payment systems all the possibilities of the state financial banking machine.
The state has never allowed anyone to create money. And since the operation of any payment systems is largely similar in its impact on the economy - similar to the effect of issuing new money. That is why payment systems have always been created by structures very closely related to public finances.
The work of all modern payment systems is based on the creation of a digital equivalent, which is created at the moment of receiving real money from the participants of this payment system. The operation of these payment systems always requires permission from government authorities and strict supervision, at a minimum, to ensure that the payment system does not use its capabilities in creating digital equivalents, and they would actually be created only when real money is received. A single server in such payment systems is a weak point, even if we assume the disinterested operation of the system, a single server is always a possibility of hacking by attackers. Therefore, in this case, you just have to trust a lot and hope that everything will work as announced.
With the advent of blockchain, the need to trust is removed, because all information is available to anyone in real time. It is enough to check the smart contract once - a program that determines the number of created tokens, the principles of their distribution, and then you can view transactions and the number of addresses that own them.
In the cryptosphere, ownership is guaranteed and makes it impossible to use other people's assets without transferring crypto keys. But with the help of smart contracts, this is made possible. The principle of tokenization of what you own is implemented, and an equivalent number of tokens are issued, which are transferred to you in exchange for the digital assets you transferred.
A modern analogue of the situation of transferring gold for storage and receiving the corresponding paper (bill) in return is the issue of stablecoins. Stablecoins are essentially a return to the days when declaring the security of fiat money was a natural and mandatory requirement for it to truly be treated as money.
A trend in modern finance is the emergence of many different stablecoins. Stable comes from the word permanent (fixed), their cost is supported only by the obligations of the creators. So, for example, the creators undertake to exchange usdt stablecoin for an equal amount of real dollars. Questions about the actual backing of such stablecoins, of course, remain, but there is already someone to ask them and this is undoubtedly a situation of getting back on track. And the return of the good old days, when anyone with material value could create paper money through the issuance of a bill of exchange (pledge receipt). This was real secured money. The owner of the bill had the full right to receive security for this bill, therefore the bill was accepted in all commodity transactions as real money.
Thus, any amount of real money (and the trends are such that it is no longer gold, but digital gold that becomes so) can and will become a pool - to create independent, decentralized and open payment systems based on it.
This is a very interesting phenomenon, as it essentially demonstrates how the creators of stablecoins, which anyone can become, pose a challenge to any modern payment system, the rights to create which have always been the lot of select people close to high financial circles.
The real meaning and significance of the term “money must work” is fully revealed by the example of the work of payment systems and their modern analogues of stablecoins.
Returning to what has already been said - you may not know, but right now at this moment, someone can use YOUR MONEY without your knowledge, or maybe NOT use it. And everyone, only with the advent of blockchain technologies had the opportunity to allow this or NOT.
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