From f5af18650a17de8c183a7212257ebe495885e5d0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: EilidhRoss1 <98904290+EilidhRoss1@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2022 14:32:12 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] Change title to question --- claims/is-bitcoin-currency.md | 6 ++++-- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/claims/is-bitcoin-currency.md b/claims/is-bitcoin-currency.md index 4bd241a..167bfa4 100644 --- a/claims/is-bitcoin-currency.md +++ b/claims/is-bitcoin-currency.md @@ -1,4 +1,6 @@ -# Bitcoin cannot function as a currency +# Is bitcoin a currency? +**Bitcoin cannot function as a currency.** + Unlike the namesake of "cryptocurrency" might imply, [bitcoin](../concepts/bitcoin.md) is not a [currency](../concepts/currency.md). It does not fulfil the economic definition of [money](../concepts/money.md). Instead bitcoin is best understood as a [speculative](../concepts/speculation.md) [cryptoasset](../concepts/cryptoasset.md) or [gambling](../concepts/gambling.md) product. Since bitcoin is not issued by a sovereign state or [central-banks](../concepts/central-banks.md) there is no central party to manage the [deflationary](../concepts/deflationary.md) spirals that occur in the [price-formation](../concepts/price-formation.md) of the asset. Therefore it is subject to wild and uncontrollable volatility that makes it unsuitable as a *means of exchange*. No amount of technology can fix the volatility problem as it is a function of the economic design of the asset and its fixed supply. This arises out of the political imaginaries of the [neo-metallism](../notes/neo-metallism.md) school and [Austrian economics](../concepts/austrian-economics.md) that informed the design of the bitcoin to resemble the historical [gold-standard](../concepts/gold-standard.md) and the conception of heterodox ideas of [sound money](../concepts/sound-money.md). @@ -27,4 +29,4 @@ Since bitcoin is [deflationary](../concepts/deflationary.md) it encourages hordi 1. Plant, Luke. 2022. ‘The Technological Case against Bitcoin and Blockchain’. Luke Plant’s Home Page. 5 March 2022. https://lukeplant.me.uk/blog/posts/the-technological-case-against-bitcoin-and-blockchain/. 1. Stinchcombe, Kai. 2018. ‘Blockchain Is Not Only Crappy Technology but a Bad Vision for the Future’. Medium (blog). 9 April 2018. https://medium.com/@kaistinchcombe/decentralized-and-trustless-crypto-paradise-is-actually-a-medieval-hellhole-c1ca122efdec. 1. White, Molly. 2022a. ‘Cryptocurrency Off-Ramps, and the Shift towards Centralization’. Molly White. 12 February 2022. https://blog.mollywhite.net/off-ramps/. -1. ———. 2022b. ‘Cryptocurrency’s Robinhood Effect’. Molly White. 17 February 2022. https://blog.mollywhite.net/cryptocurrencys-robinhood-effect/. \ No newline at end of file +1. ———. 2022b. ‘Cryptocurrency’s Robinhood Effect’. Molly White. 17 February 2022. https://blog.mollywhite.net/cryptocurrencys-robinhood-effect/.