Re: [2019-03-21] Blockchains Have Merit, But Cryptocurrencies Won’t Take Over
bitcoin still has a very binary future---it's probably going to be worth quite a lot (millions of $$) if mass adoption happens, or otherwise very very little (~$0)
That made sense as a prudent statement in 2008 (when Satoshi said it), I'm not convinced it makes sense now. The tech has demonstrated how resilient it is, and how attractive that is. It's one big positive feedback loop, and it's difficult to see how that can be disrupted now.
Agreed. It's still an experiment for me, but the likelihood of it becoming worth quite a lot more than it is today has to be much, much higher than it becoming worth very little, at least in the foreseeable timeframe where a generation or two after me are still alive and using it.
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According to IMF economist Antoine Bouveret and assistant director Vikram Haksar, virtual coins do not fulfill basic functions of money, such as being a store of value, means of exchange, and unit of account.
give it 10-20 more years.
No need. Bitcoin is objectively storing value, being exchanged in trade, and used as a unit of account today.
It's unstable in all those respects. All currencies are unstable in all those respects.
And we can point to objective users (users, merchants, who apart from transacting in Bitcoin, otherwise have no interest in its development) who are using Bitcoin exactly for all the above, except maybe unit of account. I've got clients already happy to pay in Bitcoin, but it's not a big deal for them. It's just adding another method of payment in their eyes.