A false balance is an abomination to the Lord – Proverbs 11:1
Whenever one party (the agent) is entrusted with control over assets or information belonging to another (the principal), and their interests are not perfectly aligned, the agent can exploit the principal. This misalignment is the agency problem (also principal–agent problem, trusted-third-party risk, or middleman problem).
The integrity of the ledger depends upon the same exactness that honest scales demand – Luca Pacioli
Accountants encountered it only with digitization: manual ledgers remained in the principal’s custody; centralized systems transferred custody to third-party agents who could alter records undetected.
Cypherpunks made it their central target: every bank, processor, and platform was an agent empowered to monitor, censor, or confiscate. Cryptography protected data at rest and in transit, yet value transfer still required a trusted custodian.
Bitcoiners removed the agent entirely. Custody never leaves the principal; settlement is final and verifiable by anyone. The agency problem no longer exists in the system