Balaji Srinivasan, the former chief technology officer of Coinbase who became famous for betting millions of dollars on Bitcoin in March last year, issued an article after the Bitcoin spot ETF was officially approved, saying that history is going in the opposite direction, and Bitcoin ETFs are a spiritual reversal of Executive Order 6102. In 1935, the U.S. government took the gold from the people. But now, digital gold is back.

HISTORY IS RUNNING IN REVERSE

The Bitcoin ETF is the spiritual reversal of Executive Order 6102. Back in 1935, they seized the gold. But now, digital gold is back.

Ninety years ago, FDR and his fellow travelers rode the 20th century arc of centralization. The chokepoints of… pic.twitter.com/oZ7I8q1sQZ

— Balaji (@balajis) January 11, 2024

(Betting of the Century: Hyperinflation is happening? Bitcoin will reach one million US dollars in 90 days)

What is Executive Order 6102?

According to Wikipedia, Executive Order 6102 is an executive order signed by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt on April 5, 1933, which mainly "prohibits the hoarding of gold coins, gold bars, and gold certificates in the United States." The public rationale for the order was that hard times had led to "hoarding" of gold, stunting economic growth and exacerbating the depression because the United States was on the gold standard.

Executive Order 6102 requires the American people to deliver their gold coins, gold bars, and gold certificates to the Federal Reserve in exchange for only $20.67 per troy ounce (the price at the time of writing is $2,035). Violation of this order can result in fines of up to $10,000. , or imprisonment for up to ten years, or both.

The reason behind this order was actually to remove restrictions on the Federal Reserve's ability to print money, as the Federal Reserve Act (1913) at the time required that Federal Reserve notes issued must be backed by 40% gold.

Executive Order 6102 finally passed into history in 1974 under President Ford, legalizing private ownership of gold coins, bars, and certificates.

Print gold first and then print money, causing the currency to depreciate all the way

Srinivasan said: The transition from a gold-backed system to a legal currency-backed system is equivalent to a soft communist revolution. First, "tangible gold" is captured, and then "invisible money printing" is used to lay the foundation for currency devaluation.

He also posted a statistical chart from the U.S. Bureau of Labor, showing that the purchasing power of $1 in 2020 was equivalent to $20 in 1933, which shows how much people's wealth has shrunk along the way.

What the United States is really worried about is Bitcoin’s “freedom”

Srinivasan said the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF is an echo of the Gold Clause case, but in the exact opposite direction. This time, it was the centralized state that was forced to reluctantly capitulate institutionally. The statement issued by Caroline Crenshaw, the SEC commissioner who voted against this time, can be seen in general:

There is no primary regulator for the Bitcoin spot market. Spot Bitcoin ETP will participate in an unregulated, decentralized, continuously traded, global free-for-all market. Even if there are major regulators in this market, much of this is likely beyond the scope of U.S. regulation.

Srinivasan said this is what those in power in the United States are really worried about:

What they worry about is not Bitcoin as a “fraud” but Bitcoin as “freedom”.

So regulators fear the prospect of a "global free-for-all...beyond the scope of U.S. regulation." They know that, as Satoshi intended, any spot ETF would drive up the price of self-custodial Bitcoin over which they have no control.

History is reversing, and gold is returning to you digitally

Srinivasan believes that ever since the Roosevelt administration took the people's gold, our lives have revolved around centralized states rather than decentralized markets.

The state has controlled it for so long that we have forgotten what freedom looks like. But now the gold is slipping out of their hands and back into yours. History is reversing!

This article Bitcoin ETF approval is a reversal of history, gold is returning to people’s hands digitally first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.