I'm not conflating them, they go together. Digital money is better than dead trees, or metal discs. Cryptographically secure algorithms are better than goons with a printing press. Bitcoin and other crytocurrencies enable both.
I also recognize the vast majority of fiat is now tied up in digital forms. The actual amount of physical paper money is negligible. But the overhead induced by the entire system being based upon dead tree leaflets, is that it is irrevocably slow and the discretization makes no sense in a digital medium.
> Cryptographically secure algorithms are better than goons with a printing press.
Again, technology cannot solve political problems.
There are two scenarios: the government provides a cypto-currency to provide its practical advantages, or a private currency overtakes usd.
If the government proves a crypto-currency (not terribly likely, but the more likely of the two alternatives), then probably it would retain the same amount of control it has now. Technology cannot solve political problems.
The latter presupposes the government wouldn't shut down the currency and that there's political will for your preferred monetary policy anyways. In which case technology didn't solve a political problem, politics solves a political problem.
Anyways, I prefer my democratically elected "goons" to an algorithm chosen by a small group of people.
I also recognize the vast majority of fiat is now tied up in digital forms. The actual amount of physical paper money is negligible. But the overhead induced by the entire system being based upon dead tree leaflets, is that it is irrevocably slow and the discretization makes no sense in a digital medium.