Paul Krugman is a great economic thinker. These blog posts are no doubt just him eliciting feedback so that he, as a nontechnical person, can better understand a new technical phenomenon that has direct bearing on his work.
Bitcoin solved a major technical problem, but not an economic one
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Re: Bitcoin solved a major technical problem, but not an economic one
#12I wouldn't go to Krugman for technology insights. This is the same guy who basically said the Internet has no future, and now he's repeating it for Bitcoin.
He came around on the Internet (and admitted his mistake), and now believes there will be large productivity gains from Big Data.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/the-dynamo-and-b...
Edit: I realize I'm not addressing your larger point. He still may not be the guy to go to. But that being said I think his opinions are more nuanced.
Edit 2: Another post by him on the value of ICT: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/the-ict-revoluti...
Re: Bitcoin solved a major technical problem, but not an economic one
#13I think transaction-fee-free money transfer is a pretty radical economic problem Bitcoin solves.
Unless we think banks taking 3% of all Internet transactions is a good thing.
Re: Bitcoin solved a major technical problem, but not an economic one
#14Krugman has spent the past few months qualifying, trivializing and disclaiming his previous asinine and uninformed remarks about bitcoin. Does he have a single shred of dignity left? Insufferable. Moreover, Krugman is blissfully unaware of the hundreds of millions of people that don't have access to stable or reliable banking. How does opening the markets to untold millions, via peer-to-peer transactions, not solve a…
How dare a guy change his opinions when he gets to know the facts better. Travesty I tell you.
We want that will think on Wednesday the same they thought on Monday, no matter what happens in the world on Tuesday. (Shamelessly stolen from colbert)
Re: Bitcoin solved a major technical problem, but not an economic one
#15The scenario with a large number of people wanting to cash out already assumes Bitcoin lost as a currency, so I'd say it could be a result, not the cause of Bitcoin's failure. Bitcoin succeeds or fails on whether you can buy useful stuff with it, buying other currencies is secondary.
Personally I consider a stack of (non-counterfeit) twenty dollar bills to be 'useful.'
Re: Bitcoin solved a major technical problem, but not an economic one
#16This analysis is true to a point, but overlooks that the 'decentralized cloud bank' innovation now allows a whole bunch of other technologies to be applied into an important economic domain without the old gatekeepers and limitations. Those other technologies are a bit more familiar to people: • global always-on connectivity • encryption constructs • easy discovery/formation of communities-of-interest • open source c…
It's hard to recognize the importance of technological breakthroughs and impossible to predict the future. With Bitcoin the problem is doubly difficult because the technology is new but the economics may be old. Unlike, say, digital publishing that democratized a process that was once in the hands of gatekeepers because of high costs, crypto-currencies try to do away with gatekeepers that were put in place because decentralized currencies didn't work so well. This discussion bears resemblance to others about economic regulation, which, just like Bitcoin fans, ignore the fact that regulation was put in place, at least in America, to save Americans from the horrors of the Gilded Age.
Re: Bitcoin solved a major technical problem, but not an economic one
#17Re: Bitcoin solved a major technical problem, but not an economic one
#18Krugman has spent the past few months qualifying, trivializing and disclaiming his previous asinine and uninformed remarks about bitcoin. Does he have a single shred of dignity left? Insufferable. Moreover, Krugman is blissfully unaware of the hundreds of millions of people that don't have access to stable or reliable banking. How does opening the markets to untold millions, via peer-to-peer transactions, not solve a…
What's the overlap between people with access to stable or reliable banking and stable or reliable power and stable or reliable internet access?
Re: Bitcoin solved a major technical problem, but not an economic one
#19Krugman has spent the past few months qualifying, trivializing and disclaiming his previous asinine and uninformed remarks about bitcoin. Does he have a single shred of dignity left? Insufferable. Moreover, Krugman is blissfully unaware of the hundreds of millions of people that don't have access to stable or reliable banking. How does opening the markets to untold millions, via peer-to-peer transactions, not solve a…
How dare a guy change his opinions when he gets to know the facts better. Travesty I tell you. We want that will think on Wednesday the same they thought on Monday, no matter what happens in the world on Tuesday. (Shamelessly stolen from colbert)
Eh, sorta missing the point there, brah. He's not changing his position that Bitcoin is a farcical experiment. He trivializes every argument that favors bitcoin, therefore allowing him to save face.
AKA he's justifying his dumb thoughts...
Re: Bitcoin solved a major technical problem, but not an economic one
#20Gold has base value derived from its industrial, ornamental uses. But its trading value is much larger.
Similarly Bitcoin has a base value in the cost of mining 1 BTC. Right now it is around $800 or so.
Because of the competition in mining, asic chips development, and More's law. The cost of mining 1 BTC is going up exponentially.