Countries have, for centuries, used foreign money not only for international transactions but as a complement to or a replacement for a locally issued fiat currency.
In benign cases, it is perhaps a recognition that an economy is too small to support a fiat currency or that it is pragmatic to adopt the currency of an economically mighty neighbour.
It has become a commonplace amid recent dizzying volatility in the nominal value of bitcoin that cryptocurrencies are speculative assets akin to gambling and should not be mistaken for a means of payment, store of value or unit of account.
This mirrors the introduction in Venezuela in April of this year of the BV wallet which permits holders to convert bolivars or dollars to bitcoin.
In similar vein, it was recently revealed that the world’s most numerous retail holders of bitcoin by nationality are Nigerian citizens who reportedly have greater faith in the cryptocurrency as a repository for their savings than the local Naira or indeed gold.
It is understandable that some states and their citizens might prefer to confide their trust in currency stability to the US Federal Reserve rather than in their own central bank.
When a G20 exchequer accepts bitcoin for payment of income taxes, I shall confess I was profoundly mistaken.