What would happen to monetary currency under proposed systems of anarchy? (Quora question)

Means of exchange (money) have always emerged organically and spontaneously throughout history. No state enforcement was ever needed. Free markets have used gold, silver, precious stones, salt, and bartering as means of exchange, without any perceived “authority” telling them what do use, and for which supposed “value”.

The emergence of cryptocurrencies as units of value further proves that the free market is way more qualified to determine what holds value, how much and for how long, than any arbitrary government decree by corrupt atherosclerotic politicians. It’s when government interferes in currency that corruption inevitably sets it. Who wouldn’t be corrupt when given the absolute power of issuing, valuing and distributing money? I know I would be corrupt with such power, because no one who gave me this power would deserve any better.

Remember that fiat currency (state-enforced “money”) has no real value at all. We are only forced to use it because we are forced to pay taxes only with that. If we don’t, we get arrested, and our businesses are forcibly shut down. Se merchants have no choice but to charge their goods and services with fiat currency as a unit of measurement.

To prove this point, imagine a government suddenly deciding to allow its citizens to pay taxes in anything they wanted: gold, foreign currencies, bitcoin, or whatever. People would quickly realise that it is not in their best interest to conduct transactions in fiat currency, because fiat currency is just paper and digital numbers, plus is loses its “perceived” value in time. (Bitcoin is not just “digital numbers”, because it is proof of work.) Without anyone forced to pay taxes in fiat currency, no one would charge for their goods and services with fiat currency.