The Currency Revolution, Courtesy of Bitcoin

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Just as cryptography is planting the seeds of a revolution in payment systems, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are planting the seeds of a revolution in currency.

First, there are three main characteristics of a currency: 1) it can be used as a medium of exchange, 2) it is a store of value and 3) it is issued by sovereign governments.

As a medium of exchange, bitcoin offers several unique innovations to currency: global nature, infinite divisibility and easy to carry.

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are decentralized and therefore a global medium of exchange. As a truly global currency, it could be used without any need for foreign exchange anywhere in the world. The resulting transactions would be nearly frictionless compared with today’s archaic systems and they would complete immediately.

Bitcoin is also created to be divisible to eight decimal places, with the capability for more in the future. Payments can now be made as small as millionths of a penny. Now the monetization of content becomes much easier. Prices previously too small are now economically viable, allowing many endangered businesses to thrive.

Another advantage is that bitcoin is easy to carry. The impact is most felt with amounts of currency larger than your credit card limits. Imagine carrying a million dollars in hard currency. That’s the equivalent of carrying 22 lbs of $100 bills or 770 ounces of gold. But carrying $1 million in bitcoin would be as light as your smart phone.

As a store of value, bitcoin offers a unique innovation to currency: it is solely market-based.

Currency’s face value was once redeemable for the same amount in a precious metal. Once governments left the gold standard, the U.S. dollar was made the world’s reserve currency, which was backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. While the U.S. dollar’s value vis-a-vis other currencies is driven by market demand, it is also heavily influenced by central banks’ monetary policy.

On the other hand, the market exclusively drives bitcoin’s value. Once bitcoin is more widely adopted, its value will stabilize as it migrates from a speculative investment to a widely accepted medium of exchange.

Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are decentralized. This means that it is a currency that is not issued by any central authority like a sovereign government. As a result, it is the most profound challenge to governments’ monopoly on creating money.

When all bitcoins have been mined, the total number will be limited to 21 million, which is a natural way to prevent inflation. When sovereign governments’ currencies were no longer redeemable for gold and they could print all they wanted with little accountability, central banks flooded the world with stimulus. With that stimulus comes significant risk, as no country has ever unwound multi-trillion dollar monetary experiments before.

Further, because of its decentralized nature, it has a low risk of collapse unlike a sovereign government’s currency (just ask the Greeks or more broadly, the European Union).

Finally, you can mine your own bitcoins. No mint needed! Even the creation of currency is taken out of a government’s hands, which leaves a government to focus on fiscal policy.

Bitcoin, and the ideas behind it, will be a disrupter to the traditional notions of currency. In the end, currency will be better for it.

Originally published at MoneyNews.com on May 23, 2014.

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21 Comments

  • Couldn’t agree more! It’s the new digital denominator!

  • May I offer a different paradigm on just a small part of what you wrote …

    “Currency’s face value was once redeemable for the same amount in a precious metal. Once governments left the gold standard, the U.S. dollar was made the world’s reserve currency, which was backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. While the U.S. dollar’s value vis-a-vis other currencies is driven by market demand, it is also heavily influenced by central banks’ monetary policy.”

    Would be more accurate if it used the acronym FRN (Federal Resrve Note) rather than dollar. Also, I believe this country was founded on a silver, not a gold standard (see http://www.fame.org/HTM/Vieira_Edwin_What_is_a_Dollar_EV-002.HTM for a thorough history and legal study). Based on the above I would edit the paragraph to this:

    Currency’s face value was once redeemable for the same amount in a precious metal. Once governments left the silver standard, the FRN was made into a a promise to pay nothing, an absurdity, an oxymoran. Unexplanably (except perhaps by wielding a sword) it became the world’s reserve currency, which was backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government (which actually meant backed by nothing except to pay back more worthless nothings). While the U.S. dollar’s value vis-a-vis other currencies is driven by market demand, it is also heavily influenced by central banks’ monetary policy.

    And I would add … The true American Dollar (that silver coin manufactured by the US Mint as authorized by the Constitution) is the TRUE dollar (and the FRN is not because, as Dr Edwin Vierra so clearly explains in the link I posted above) a promise to PAY a dollar can never become the dollar itself. The TRUE American Dollar has not lost its value (it now trades at 1 to 25 FRN approx.). It has lost some of its value in relation to gold but that, I believe, is temporary and the result of market manipulation.

    I started a thread in a forum here where I layout my arguments …
    http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?443615-A-theory-on-why-the-quot-gold-standard-quot-failed

    If possible, please visit at least the last post I made yesterday as it demonstrates very effectively how the founders blew it by setting us up on a double (silver and gold) standard.

    Other than that, thank you for the great article about Bitcoin. A man of your stature coming out in support of Bitcoin can move mountains.

  • Christian Peel says:

    The last half of the talk below applies Clayton Christensen’s disruption theory to cryptocurrencies:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKAWjNiMF9U&t=31m36s

  • Very interesting reading. Would you allow us to use the basics of this excellent article in our world-renowned magazine COIN NEWS? We are a UK-based magazine and we will, of course, give full credit to you.
    Many thanks.
    Carol

  • casherbox says:

    Bitcoin still grows up even in 2017. It`s price had been growing after 2015 crisis and now 1 BTC is roughly 1200 US dollars

    It`s nice to see Bitcoin still is used and someone needs it. When no one will use bitcoin and deinstall their wallets, that will be the end of the bitcoin area

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