Once upon a time, kings had a simple trick. They needed more money but didn’t want the peasants revolting over higher taxes. So, they shaved off a little silver here, mixed in some cheaper metals there, and—boom—new coins, same face value, but worth a lot less. The people didn’t notice right away. By the time they did, prices had skyrocketed, trust was shattered, and the cycle of debasement continued.
Fast forward a few centuries, and we’re doing the same thing. But now, it’s digital. No melting. No clipping. No messy coin re-minting. Just a few keystrokes at a central bank, and trillions appear out of thin air. The scam didn’t change—only the execution did.
How Kings Pulled Off the Oldest Financial Scam
Back in the day, money was metal. And if you wanted more of it without earning it, you had two options:
- Re-minting with Less Precious Metal – Melt old coins down, mix in cheaper metals like copper or tin, and reissue them at the same face value. Nobody notices immediately, but slowly, the new coins are worth less.
- Clipping and Shaving – Shave a little off the edges of every coin that passes through your hands. Collect enough shavings, melt them down, and you’ve got free money. The only ones losing out? Everyone else.
- Face Value vs. Real Value – People aren’t stupid. They start hoarding the old, purer coins and spending the debased ones. That’s Gresham’s Law in action—bad money drives out good money. Inflation kicks in, prices rise, and trust collapses.
Every ruler did this. The Roman Empire ran the scam for centuries. Henry VIII turned England’s silver coins into near-junk. The French debased their currency so much they had to reset the entire monetary system. Every single time, the story ended the same way: inflation, economic collapse, and some new version of the scam rebooting under a different name.
The Ridges on Coins: A Convenient Distraction?
Look at any modern coin, and you’ll see ridges on the edges. Ever wonder why? The official explanation:
- Anti-Counterfeiting – Stops people from clipping metal off coins.
- Tactile Differentiation – Helps people, especially the visually impaired, distinguish coins.
- Durability – Prevents excessive wear.
- Standardization – Keeps coin designs consistent across minting runs.
All true. But also, there’s a historical argument that early rulers used reeded edges to distract from their own debasement. A fresh, newly minted coin with crisp ridges looked official. It felt valuable. Never mind that it contained significantly less gold or silver than the old ones.
By the 18th century, ridged coins were standard across Europe and the U.S. By that time, kings and governments were mostly done with metal debasement. Why? Because they found an even better scam—paper money.
The 21st Century Upgrade: Digital Debasement
Kings had to physically tamper with money to debase it. Today’s rulers don’t even break a sweat.
- No Melting, Just Printing – Central banks don’t need to collect old coins and re-mint them. They just create new money from nothing. Trillions at a time.
- Inflation as the New Tax – Instead of clipping coins, inflation now silently taxes your savings. You don’t notice it right away, but that €10 sandwich used to be €5 a few years ago. Where did that purchasing power go? Straight to those who got the newly created money first.
- Hyper-Controlled Digital Cash – With central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), governments won’t even need banks to print money anymore. They’ll just adjust your balance in real time. Inflation, taxation, financial control—all in one neat package.
It’s the same scam, but on an industrial scale. A medieval king would lose his mind with jealousy if he saw how much easier it is now.
Bitcoin: The First Money That Can’t Be Debased
For the first time in history, we have a form of money that no king, president, or banker can tamper with. 21 million coins. No more, no less.
- No sneaky re-minting.
- No stealth inflation.
- No centralized control.
Just like people in the past hoarded pure silver and gold while spending debased coins, today, those who get it are stacking Bitcoin while fiat money bleeds out. Because when money can be created endlessly, it stops being money—it’s just a promise someone else has to keep. Money is simply a spell.
And if history tells us anything, it’s that rulers never keep their promises.