Topic: 2013-04-23 The Schlichter Files - Could Bitcoin be the money of the future? (Read 1373 times)
April 23, 2013, 07:26:44 PM
Looks like the Austrians are finally waking up...
April 23, 2013, 02:12:51 PM
Great article.
April 23, 2013, 08:53:10 AM
yeah I usually also argue that for now it's a digital commodity or barter good, limited in amount (through cryptographic means), used in a global potentially anonymous value transfer system.
For now it more resembles a share or asset, but as it stabilizes in value, the regression theorem will apply and it will finally become a real currency, as the creators intended.
For now it more resembles a share or asset, but as it stabilizes in value, the regression theorem will apply and it will finally become a real currency, as the creators intended.
April 23, 2013, 08:36:58 AM
I think that a better answer to the regression theorum argument is that just as gold started off at a value of zero relative to other goods around it at the time of it's discovery, so has Bitcoin started off at a value of zero at the time of its invention before growing to what it is valued at today.
April 23, 2013, 07:34:43 AM
Schlichter is a very smart guy. Excellent article.
April 23, 2013, 06:51:19 AM
Very good.
I liked his answer to the "regression theorem":
I liked his answer to the "regression theorem":
Quote
Menger and Mises would love Bitcoin
Many ‘Austrians’ get thrown off by Menger’s theory of the origin of money and Mises’ so-called ‘regression theorem’, and somewhat rashly conclude that Bitcoin can never achieve money-status because it did not originate from a non-money commodity. Mises was correct when he stated that something could only become money if it had previously, that is, before it was used by somebody as a medium of exchange in its own right for the first time, established some value in trade. For if that had not been the case, how could the first person to employ the commodity as money have any point of reference by which to assess its value and determined its exchange value for the first monetary transaction? However, this theorem, which remains unrefuted in my view, does not apply to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can simply piggyback on established forms of money that already have exchange-value and derive its original value from them before it does, over time, establish its own value.
Many ‘Austrians’ get thrown off by Menger’s theory of the origin of money and Mises’ so-called ‘regression theorem’, and somewhat rashly conclude that Bitcoin can never achieve money-status because it did not originate from a non-money commodity. Mises was correct when he stated that something could only become money if it had previously, that is, before it was used by somebody as a medium of exchange in its own right for the first time, established some value in trade. For if that had not been the case, how could the first person to employ the commodity as money have any point of reference by which to assess its value and determined its exchange value for the first monetary transaction? However, this theorem, which remains unrefuted in my view, does not apply to Bitcoin. Bitcoin can simply piggyback on established forms of money that already have exchange-value and derive its original value from them before it does, over time, establish its own value.
April 23, 2013, 06:29:58 AM
One of the best articles on Bitcoin I've read so far.
April 23, 2013, 05:56:10 AM
2013-04-23 The Schlichter Files - Could Bitcoin be the money of the future?
http://detlevschlichter.com/2013/04/could-bitcoin-be-the-money-of-the-future/#comment-7239
http://detlevschlichter.com/2013/04/could-bitcoin-be-the-money-of-the-future/#comment-7239
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