[ardell]

>> The beneficiary of this "interest" is the monetary issuer (the central bank)

Seems like the beneficiary of the "interest" is anyone who holds debt against that currency. For instance, if I borrow $1k from a good friend who charges no interest, and pay him back in a year, the $1k he receives at the end of the year will buy him less than it would have previously.

In practice an lender does charge interest but assuming that interest rates, like any other product, is priced not by cost but by what the market will bear, the lender must bear the cost of inflation.

>> there's no way you can opt-out outside of reverting to bartering for goods directly.

Bartering for goods _can_ carry the same risk of inflation if others are able to flood the market with competitive goods. But in a single-currency system we have a central agency that is able to produce money without producing wealth. And producing money without producing wealth is what leads to inflation.