Mises Wire

The Liberty Dollar Question

The Liberty Dollar Question

Every libertarian should support full freedom in money production and use, and a great step toward sound money would be to scrap all laws against alternative currencies. I find it interesting how insistent the government is that we use its currency and no other: what is it that these people fear? So there is no libertarian grounds for prosecuting any company that is minting currency. Private coinage grew up with capitalism itself.

That said, one can't help but notice that many of the players that have been involved in this industry over the years have not always had the highest scruples. Maybe it's like prohibition of drugs and alcohol: you make something illegal and its draws people who do not place a premium on honest business dealings. I can think of several cases of this in the past.

I just read the warrant for the seizure of Norfed's assets, and it is not entirely clear to me what the mix here is between phony crime (competing with the dollar) as verses practices that would qualify as fraudulent in any free market system — not that theft by the police is an improvement. So perhaps readers can help. Here is the PDF of the document. See what you think.

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