Jack, do you think it's this independence from government and regulation that's driving that?

I think that's part of it.

But I think the kind of underlying thing is when we get into kind of what actually is a cryptocurrency.

So, I mean, Bitcoin has coin in the title, but really it doesn't function as money.

Something being money needs to fulfill three functions.

So one, it has to be a good place to store the value that you want to store.

Bitcoin doesn't really do that.

Jack, how is the digital pound different from a

Can you talk a bit about that?

Yeah, sure.

So, uh, I mean, when people think about money, they probably...

Your...

An, an immediate thing is you go to think about cash, right? It's the, it's kind of the physical thing that, the sort of, uh, that we all use.

Um, but that's actually really a small fraction of the total, uh, um, sort of money supply in the, in the economy.

So we kinda talk about that as the leaves of the tree.

Mm-hmm.

Do you guys have favourites from your many examples in the book? Do you want to start this time, Jack?

Yeah, I think we do.

So I think we've got two examples in the book, one hyperinflation and one deflation.

So I might start with the deflation, which is probably the more newer one.

So deflation is when prices fall over time.

And this is, I mean, that sounds quite a nice thing, but it's actually problematic for an economy because I mean think about it if you're should I buy a new sofa and but you know prices are falling over time you go well maybe I'll put up with my ratty sofa today and I'll buy it next year because I know the price has come down and so that that means people spend less and the economy is weaker so deflation is really a problem It hasn't actually happened very many times in history.

So people always talk about the Great Depression in the US.

Could Norman Lamont have done whatever it takes to face down speculation in 1992? But you guys go first.

Uh, Andrew in South Oxfordshire said, "Why is the desired inflation rate set at two percent? Is this actually a proven desired amount, economically speaking?"

I love this question.

I think every-- if you ever ask a macroeconomist, which is what we are, uh, they love this question because it sort of, it sort of just came about by accident.

So, um, you-- There, there is a big picture right answer to this, which is you don't want inflation really high.

We all know that prices going up really fast is bad for the economy.

You know, everyone knows that.

But prices, uh, going down over time, so something, uh, called deflation, is bad too because, for example, if you think, "Oh, am I gonna buy a sofa? Uh, well, I know that prices are falling over time, so the sofa that might be a thousand pounds today, next year it's gonna be nine hundred and fifty.

Uh, my question is if, if cash runs out, uh, runs on trust, then does Bitcoin work in the same way, and thus it's becoming more legitimate?