原标题：Bitcoin Is Officially Older Than The Fiat Era Stock Market
Author: Anthony Pompliano, Founder and CEO of Professional Capital Management
For investors, the world changed on August 15, 1971, when President Nixon implemented a series of reforms to the U.S. economy in response to high inflation. These reforms became known as the “Nixon shock.”
The Nixon shock changes included: 1. Wage freeze; 2. Price freeze; 3. Import surcharge; 4. Decoupling of the dollar from gold and cancellation of the international convertibility of the dollar and gold.
The Nixon Shock ushered in a new era in the United States—the beginning of a full fiat currency system.
Since that date, the U.S. stock market has been open for trading for just over 100,700 hours. This may seem like a useless data point, but Cory Bates points out that something interesting has happened this year that makes the U.S. stock market trading hours in the fully fiat era worth paying attention to.
Bitcoin, which was only launched in 2009, has officially surpassed the US stock market in terms of trading hours. Bitcoin currently has more than 123,000 trading hours, which is nearly 25% higher than the public stock trading hours in the era of pure fiat currency.
There are two things that are revealing about this information: First, it’s crazy that the US stock market is closed longer each week than it is open. And it’s really eye-opening that Bitcoin, which began trading publicly less than 15 years ago, is more accessible than the public stock market has been in the past 50 years.
Secondly, you could say that Bitcoin is older than the stock market in the era of pure fiat currency. In terms of total years, the digital currency may not be old, but in terms of trading time, it is certainly more mature.
Some would disagree and may claim that the history of the U.S. stock market dates back to before 1971. While that is true, the change in monetary regimes during the Nixon Shock is the most important factor in today’s stock market.
Why is the Nixon shock the most important? The rise of the US stock market is largely driven by the depreciation of the fiat currency. The more the dollar depreciates, the faster the stock market rises.
How do you know? The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group has two excellent charts that highlight (1) the performance of gold relative to stocks and (2) the U.S. stock market in terms of gold.
Let’s get back to my main point - although Nixon didn’t explicitly predict it, the US stock market changed significantly in 1971. If you look at the market since the beginning of this new era, it has been trading for a shorter period of time than Bitcoin.
Bitcoin’s robust system has been tested more than the U.S. stock market. This statement will confuse traditional finance professionals. But it is true.
Systems are only tested when they are used. The Bitcoin market is used more than the stock market in the era of pure fiat. This is a story that should be told widely.
