Sunday, March 2, 2014

Nobel Prize Winner Robert Shiller on Bitcoin

Shiller out with a column today at NYT on electronic currencies. There is some in the column I agree with and some I don't, but I can't argue with him when he writes this:
Bitcoin’s future is very much in doubt[...] 
The Bitcoin phenomenon seems to fit the basic definition of a speculative bubble — that is, a special kind of fad, a mania for holding an asset in expectation of its appreciation. Further, a bubble is publicized and amplified by news of price increases, often justified by some kind of inspiring “new era” story that attracts more attention as the price rises. In this case, the narrative was that a computer whiz invented a new kind of money in the form of electronic currency units, as part of a decentralized computer-driven system for a world economy that extends beyond the reach of any single government.
The central problem with Bitcoin in its present form, though, is that it doesn’t really solve any sensible economic problem.

6 comments:

  1. Wenzel, what evidence presented would make you change your mind on Bitcoin? I, as a Bitcoin advocate, will admit that if the price of Bitcoin goes to zero and no other crypto-currencies arise to take its place, that they are effectively dead as an idea, and that they were a speculative mania. From your perspective, at what point of survival and thriving in the market will you admit that crypto-currency is beneficial in some way to the market? 5 more years? 10 more years? Just want to have something to hold you to so you can't worm your way out of this one like your still yet to be published tome on IP.

    Also, the last statement is demonstrably stupid. Bitcoin does solve an "economic" problem. The problem even has a name and a wikipedia page and everything. It's called the Byzantine General's problem for those interested. Whatever else you want to say about Bitcoin, it is a technological breakthrough, that can not be denied by the sensible.

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    1. We don't have a Byzantine General's problem.

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    2. Bitcoin proved a valid point. People are being held in figurative chains forcing them to use...but the story has ended with bitcoin's martyrdom, forced to live out its existence in the dungeon of state regulation.

      Good point though on the IP book. I'm looking forward to reading rw's full IP views.

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  2. Nobel Prize? Is that relevant now-days?


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  3. Lol. Buttcoin boyz might want to listen to Bitcoin trader if they wish to avoid future butthurt.

    http://www.thebitcointrader.com/2014/03/if-someone-buys-bitcoin-today-theyll-be.html

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  4. The only interesting Bitcoin question is who is behind the pump and dump scam?

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