In today's day and age we are surrounded by the monotony of national fiat currencies. Most often a nation has a national bank, or something that functions in a similar capacity, which prints the national currency. While exceptions exist such as the Eurozone this is by far the most common model. This leads, for better or worse, to a more centralized economy which the state is capable of controlling. Depending on your point of view this is a boon to economies because with such control the government can set interest rates and influence the inflation/deflation of the currency. But for another point of view it is to a nations detriment, owing up to the fact that it increases government intervention in the market which seldom is a good thing.

This form of centralized banking has not always been the case. Free banking, a system where private banks can issue their own currencies, has existed in different places at different points in time, for example Scotland in the 18th and first half of the 19th century and Sweden at two occasions during the 19th century. To keep this short and sweet, despite the possible chaos that such a decentralized system can bring the free market brought stability and competition to the areas of currencies.

While the days of free banking are behind us, in the advent of cryptocurrencies we might just see the spirit of free banking reborn. While there are some significant differences between the currencies issued by private banks in the eighteenth century and those of Brave or Satoshi the similarities are profound. Once again has private currencies been created and live and die on their own merits on the market. So long as you have the know how you too can create a currency. With the ever marching lines of crypto adoption by companies seeking more customers the possibility of a new and greater market driven monetary system seems possible. Indeed, as I stated in the title, this could spell the beginning of a digital free banking revolution.