Posted on May 1, 2019
The Republic of the Marshall Islands had a signed and officially adopted constitution on this date in 1979.
Even though it is an independent nation, it is considered to have a "free association" with the U.S. - a leftover from World War II, when the U.S. took control of Asian and Polynesian islands occupied by Japan. Micronesia uses the U.S. dollar as its currency (but a lot of nations that AREN'T associated with the U.S. do that, as well). Other services from the U.S. include defense, subsidies, use of U.S. agencies such as the U.S. Postal Service.
By the way, I mentioned the Marshall Islands using the U.S. dollar - but I just read that the nation is planning to create a new cryptocurrency to also use as legal tender! Wow!
Bitcoin is pretty much the first and most famous cryptocurrency, and there are a few Bitcoin ATMs as well as online and regular old "brick-and-mortar" stores where you can use Bitcoin - a digital, therefore non-physical, kind of money - to buy real, physical objects!
Like, apparently, Subway sandwiches and Microsoft computer software products!
China has banned Bitcoin, and its use to pay for goods and services is illegal in Russia (which I guess means that it is banned there, too?). Several South American nations have banned its use as a currency and also as an investment.
Other nations, such as the U.S., Canada, and Germany, are much more friendly to Bitcoin - although of course they take efforts to make sure it is not used for money laundering or other illegal purposes! The U.S. Treasury considers Bitcoin a money services business, Canada considers Bitcoin exchanges as bartering, and Germany deals with Bitcoin differently depending on if they are dealing with Bitcoin "miners," investors, users, or companies accepting Bitcoin in exchange for goods and services.
Still, I don't think that any nation has yet developed their own cryptocurrency. Is this the way we are headed? And, if so, is that a good thing?
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(First Wednesday of May)
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