The Money Printer Go Brrr meme, that surfaced in early 2020, referenced, and was a response to, the Federal Reserve announcing its intent to increase stock market liquidity. The quirky meme that quickly exploded in popularity shows central bankers cranking out a seemingly infinite number of U.S dollars.
As with any good meme, there is no one author. The humour on the surface is the vehicle for a diffusion of ideas that take on a life of their own.
Memes do exceedingly well on the internet because they are a means of communication that is distributed through subcultures.
Forever on the internet, they remain in our memory, often to draw our attention to the failings of individuals, institutions, and in this case, the structural failings of the global financial system.
So far, the only response to the broken monetary system, and the overzealous printing efforts of the U.S Federal Reserve, is to stay on the merry-go-round with central bankers, who seem uninclined to let anyone off this cyclical ride.
And so, while individuals and enterprises see their liquid reserves trickling away, the U.S. Federal government keeps printing money.
A solution to the impact of dollar devaluation
As the monetary policy and overall bearish outlook suggest, the impact of the dollar devaluation can only end one way. It isn’t a case of ‘if’ the markets will fail, but ‘when’. With the USD losing value against a number of other major currencies, many forward-thinking enterprises have put part of their treasuries into BTC and other cryptocurrencies.
One of the solutions to the Federal Reserve over-eagerly printing money, comes in the form of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin was born as a solution to the damage created by money printing. Because of the decentralised nature of cryptocurrencies, money printing becomes a thing of the past, politics takes a back seat, and financial middlemen are cut out.
More and more investors have openly announced they have allocated part of their fund into BTC. Corporate Bitcoin treasuries are here to stay, and moving ahead it will soon be the corporate standard for institutional investors to include BTC into their main assets.
This foray into digital currency has undoubtedly accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic, where the global crisis sent the Federal Reserve rushing to pump trillions of dollars of emergency liquidity into financial markets. Bitcoin has, so far, outperformed every asset class throughout the crisis, and despite rallies in tech stock and gold, many believe cryptocurrencies to be the best protection against complete financial collapse.
Even billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk has given his stamp of approval in recent weeks, with a single hashtag- #bitcoin, and at the time of writing, Tesla has bought $1.5 bn worth of Bitcoin.
The recent wave of support, from global companies, influencers, and of course, Elon Musk, has contributed to keen institutional interest. Apart from being a safeguard against financial collapse, one of Bitcoin’s greatest assets (excuse the pun), is that there is a predictable supply of Bitcoin, and under a BTC standard it does not decay over time.
The increasing possibility that global reserve currency has an expiration date, means that big players, including high-net-worth individuals, hedge funds, and large institutions, are beginning to make their way into the space.
A solution, or another problem?
One of the greatest assets for enterprises is the secure way that the blockchain enables them to store, manage, and invest their crypto assets. However, one of the main barriers to enterprise adoption has been its perceived difficulty. Many companies are put off by what is, for many, an unknown and perilous terrain.
This is where enterprise platforms come in.
While asset management firms may find it difficult to access decentralized finance, and manage their assets due to issues with governance, security, and accessibility, enterprise platforms provide a space for investors to seamlessly manage their assets.
Where cryptocurrencies have seen significant adoption from retail participants, the adoption from enterprises has lagged behind. The main reasons have been security, compliance, and user experience. What the Unido Enterprise Platform seeks to achieve, is to provide their users with existing technology, and a suite of familiar tools, that will enable them to manage their crypto assets. Unido already has active pilots with a number of digital banks, and with many large companies already investing in BTC, the demand for enterprise platforms will grow rapidly.
With financially savvy enterprises already holding a portion of their treasury in digital currency, the wave will continue to build. What may have once been deemed ‘too risky’, or even ‘foolhardy’, is now being seen as a solution to the never-ending rise and fall of the Dollar.
Enterprise platforms have arisen to soften the transition from fiat to crypto. By providing access to crypto banking, and protection for enterprises to safeguard their assets long term, they can step off the Dollar merry-go-round once and for all.
Disclaimer: All opinions in this article belong to the author alone. Nothing in this article constitutes professional investment advice. Please do your own thorough research before making any investment decisions.