100 years ago, Henry Ford proposed ‘energy currency’ to replace gold
Bitcoin could be the ultimate energy currency that industrialist Henry Ford first talked about 100 years ago.
In 1921, American industrialist Henry Ford proposed the creation of an “energy currency” that could form the basis of a new monetary system — offering striking similarities to the peer-to-peer electronic cash system outlined in Satoshi Nakamoto’s 2008 Bitcoin (BTC) white paper.
Bitcoin as an energy currency
On Dec. 4, 1921, the New York Tribune published an article outlining Ford’s vision of replacing gold with an energy currency that he believed could break the banking elites’ grip on global wealth and put an end to wars. He intended to do this by building “the world’s greatest power plant” and creating a new currency system based on “units of power.”
Ford, who founded Ford Motor Company in 1903, told the publication:
The specifics around currency values “will be worked out when Congress cares to hear about it,” he said.
Although Ford was never able to advance his vision of a fully-backed currency, Bitcoin has seemingly vindicated the idea a century later. Since 2009, more than 18.8 million BTC have been created through an energy-intensive mining process that requires computers to solve increasingly complex math problems. This proof-of-work mining has drawn heavy criticism over its alleged environmental impact — a short-sighted claim that ignores Bitcoin’s ability to accelerate the shift to renewable energy.
eplacing gold, ending wars
On the relation between gold and war, Ford explained:
The remnants of the gold standard were abandoned in 1971 by United States President Richard Nixon, who said his government would temporarily suspend convertibility between dollars and bullion. The so-called quasi-gold standard would last until 1973, with all definitions linking the dollar to bullion removed by 1976. However, in effect, the gold standard system was eliminated by the British government in 1931, with the U.S. following suit two years later.
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