> A currency that actually increases in value rather than decreases would have a huge advantage over everything else. Because if you had a choice what would you store your money in?
The large part of point of fiat currency is divorcing the "store of value" function from the "medium of exchange" and "unit of account" functions of money, retaining the latter two but largely abandoning the former, in favor of the investment role being taken by productive assets.
The purpose of this is to encourage people with wealth to invest that wealth in productive assets rather than holding on to money.
Its true that, if you are looking for something to use as a store of value, something that increases in value over time is better for that purpose. Its less than obvious why this should be a feature of "currency". As a medium of exchange, it is generally good to have protection against short-term volatility, and as a unit of account the same is true, though against somewhat longer-term volatility (though not really "long-term", necessarily.)
For a long-term investment, short- to medium-term volatility is less important, but long-term expected growth is more important. The features that make a good investment aren't the features that make a good currency (medium of exchange) or a good unit of account.
The large part of point of fiat currency is divorcing the "store of value" function from the "medium of exchange" and "unit of account" functions of money, retaining the latter two but largely abandoning the former, in favor of the investment role being taken by productive assets.
The purpose of this is to encourage people with wealth to invest that wealth in productive assets rather than holding on to money.
Its true that, if you are looking for something to use as a store of value, something that increases in value over time is better for that purpose. Its less than obvious why this should be a feature of "currency". As a medium of exchange, it is generally good to have protection against short-term volatility, and as a unit of account the same is true, though against somewhat longer-term volatility (though not really "long-term", necessarily.)
For a long-term investment, short- to medium-term volatility is less important, but long-term expected growth is more important. The features that make a good investment aren't the features that make a good currency (medium of exchange) or a good unit of account.