Natural experiments are worth monitoring, even if we all desperately hope that the experiment never actually came to pass. Being able to compare East and West Germany in 1989 was not worth the pain and grief of the previous 40 years but there was still a lesson to be learned from doing so - socialism isn’t the way to economic development.

Cryptocurrencies are Putin’s sanctions-busting superweapon

Despots will find it easier to get their way in a world where cryptocurrencies undermine the US dollar

This could be true, yes. This always was rather the selling point of crypto, that it was a non-governmental type of money which could be used when governments were restricting the use of their own, government created, money.

We’re about to find out, aren’t we?

Money is, simply, whatever people agree to use as money. History is replete with examples of restrictions upon one type leading to the use of another. Cigarettes for example, where people might literally smoke a bank note.

No, we do not think that being able to conduct this experiment is worth the associated costs. But given that the idiocies are already happening let’s actually observe and see.

Do cryptocurrencies work as a way around government restrictions on the use of money? Or not? At least we’ll then know.