Home » The problem with the monetary system
Unprecedented public debt levels, rampant money supply expansion and the enormous financial imbalances render our current financial system extremely unstable.
As politicians and central banks worldwide are running out of realistic and effective solutions, we are left to deal with rising inflationary pressures and continuous debt creation at the expense of the next generation. The unprecedented creation of money out of thin air and the politically motivated interest rate manipulations by central banks have a direct impact on the value of our money.
Since the end of the gold standard in the U.S. in 1971, all links between money and any real asset were severed, allowing for excessive debt accumulation to run rampant and leading to inflation.
Today, money fulfills this function exceptionally poorly. Due to the constant increase of the money supply, our money steadily loses value instead of retaining it. We are convinced that the remedy for this is the return to a currency backed by real assets.
Sovereign currencies, such as the Swiss franc, the euro or the U.S. dollar, can serve as units of account only in the short term. In the medium to long term, they do not fulfill this task, as the future real value of these currencies cannot be forecast and is always influenced by political interests.
Today's money works well as a medium of exchange. With cash and electronic means of payment, transactions can be made (almost) anywhere, and banks facilitate transfers across the globe. However, developments in blockchain technology clearly show that all this can be done a lot more efficiently.
On July 15, 1971, then U.S. President Richard Nixon severed the American currency’s historical link to real assets: he closed the so-called gold window. After this, the U.S. dollar was no longer pegged to gold and the central banks of other countries have no longer been able to exchange their dollars for gold at the U.S. central bank, the Fed. On May 27, 1987, Switzerland also decided to stop backing the Swiss franc with gold. Until that point, Switzerland was the last jurisdiction that still held on to a gold peg for its currency.
No significant currency has been tethered to the real world since. The consequences have been dramatic. What followed was an unprecedented expansion of the money supply in the form of a debt explosion, accompanied by a steady loss of purchasing power of paper money. In essence, this means that our money today can no longer fulfill one of its basic functions – that of maintaining value.
For ordinary investors, this means that almost all nominal savings investments, such as savings accounts, call deposits or even government bonds, will suffer losses in the medium and long term. This is exacerbated by central bank policies pushing interest rates to or even below zero and by quantitative easing programs of the Fed or the ECB, adopted due to the barely sustainable debt levels of many countries.
Our money today has lost its store of value function and this also affects the other basic functions too: The Swiss franc, the euro or the U.S. dollar can only serve as a unit of account for a short time.
By its very nature, any benchmark should be a consistent standard, but due to the permanent loss of purchasing power, this function can no longer be reliably served. Over a longer period of time, it is difficult to tell at first glance whether a good has risen in price primarily because it has itself become more expensive – for example, due to greater demand, while supply has remained unchanged – or whether the corresponding price increase primarily reflects the loss of purchasing power of the respective currency. In an environment where the real value of an expected payment can no longer be clearly determined when a contract is concluded, it is difficult to enter into long-term contracts.
As long as state currencies are designated as legal tender and citizens must use them to pay their taxes, fiat money will retain its function as a medium of exchange. However, even in this role, our currencies are becoming increasingly irrelevant. For example, in the canton of Zug, the “Crypto-Valley,” certain taxes can be paid in cryptocurrencies. In the US, some states have returned to the roots of the US dollar: Utah and Oklahoma officially recognized gold and silver as legal tender. Recently, El Salvador became the first country in the world to recognize Bitcoin as an official means of payment.
We believe that in the near future, the demand for sound, backed currencies on the blockchain will increase sharply, which is why we created the RealUnit.
RealUnit Schweiz AG is an innovative, dynamic company, which is a world leader in
money matters.
For the conservative investor looking to the future.
Dr. Jürg Conzett
Founder of the MoneyMuseum Zurich
As a woman and business owner, holistic financial planning is important to me.
RealUnit Schweiz AG helps me secure my assets sustainably and over the long term.
Beatrice Isenegger
Dipl. Architect ETH
Opposites are complementary: following this guiding principle, the share token of RealUnit Schweiz AG enables me to digitally store real assets myself in an inflation- and crisis-proof manner.
Prof. Dr. Edy Portmann
Professor of Informatics at the University of Freiburg
Real assets are indispensable for freedom, prosperity and peace. That is why I am a shareholder of RealUnit.
Prisca Würgler
Graswurzle Managing Director, Publisher of DIE FREIEN magazine
The RealUnit offers people with modest assets a relatively safe, trustworthy and easy way to make saving attractive again.
Hans-Rudolf Zulliger
Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the Third Millennium in Zurich
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RealUnit Schweiz AG is a listed investment company that invests in real assets in a broadly diversified manner. We pursue the goal of protecting the assets entrusted to us against crises and against the loss of purchasing power.