Bitcoin

Bob Murphy and Stephan Livera discuss the economics of Bitcoin from an Austrian perspective.

As FDR’s gold crackdown showed, tyrants know the importance of controlling money in a time of crisis. It appears cryptocurrency could be central banks' next target. 

On the one hand, the “no intrinsic value” skeptics are ignoring how Austrians deal with gold, while on the other hand, the “HODL forever” enthusiasts would never allow Bitcoin to become a money.

A money which can be held in only one form, whether digital coin (as in the case of bitcoin), or banknote, or sight deposit, or metallic coin, for example, is crippled. Yet, exclusive digital form has become a huge selling point for the promotors of bitcoin.

Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop discuss some of the new policies the Biden administration wants to inflict on us, on topics ranging from bitcoin to foreign policy.

There is no better work to explain the broader implications of central banking which go almost totally unremarked in the financial press than The Ethics of Money Production.

There's no reason to assume 2021 will bring a reversal of 2020's trends. Many of the fights that began in 2020 are likely to intensify in the new year. 

The central banks can be thanked for all bubbles, including those in cryptocurrencies.

The central banks can be thanked for all bubbles, including those in cryptocurrencies.

Monetary economist George Selgin agrees with Bob on the flaws with MMT, but then the two continue their debate (started at the Soho Forum) on fractional reserve free banking.