Google once considered issuing currency - Eric Schmidt
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Re: Google once considered issuing currency - Eric Schmidt
#2> The idea was to implement a "peer-to-peer money" system.
Wow. I wonder if it literally means they were thinking of duplicating the (world's first) digital peer-to-peer currency: http://www.bitcoin.org Or is Schmidt using the term "peer-to-peer" liberally?
Edit: looks like I am right, a CNN article specifically mentions Bitcoin: http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/28/technology/google_future_of_...
Re: Google once considered issuing currency - Eric Schmidt
#3> The idea was to implement a "peer-to-peer money" system. Wow. I wonder if it literally means they were thinking of duplicating the (world's first) digital peer-to-peer currency: http://www.bitcoin.org Or is Schmidt using the term "peer-to-peer" liberally? Edit: looks like I am right, a CNN article specifically mentions Bitcoin: http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/28/technology/google_future_of_...
The article says the statement was in response to audience questions, so this may have been in planning before Bitcoin was even released in 2009 (for all we know, Satoshi Nakamoto could be a Google employee who decided to take up the project personally). Not saying this is the case (obviously I don't have any proof either way), and I'm not personally that fond of Google, but Google may not entirely be at fault here.
Re: Google once considered issuing currency - Eric Schmidt
#4> The idea was to implement a "peer-to-peer money" system. Wow. I wonder if it literally means they were thinking of duplicating the (world's first) digital peer-to-peer currency: http://www.bitcoin.org Or is Schmidt using the term "peer-to-peer" liberally? Edit: looks like I am right, a CNN article specifically mentions Bitcoin: http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/28/technology/google_future_of_...
I lived on a hippy commune from 1974 to 1979 - we had our own currency then, called 'trash' in which we could buy anything we wanted. It was a peer-to-peer currency which was printed on the packs of cigarettes.
When I was 4 years old, I bought my first vehicle with Trash, a golf cart which I drove around the property.
Bit-coin may be digital, but it is not the first peer-to-peer currency.
We also had our own TV station, which was powered by the very first Apple computers. This is where I encountered Apple first...
Re: Google once considered issuing currency - Eric Schmidt
#5> The idea was to implement a "peer-to-peer money" system. Wow. I wonder if it literally means they were thinking of duplicating the (world's first) digital peer-to-peer currency: http://www.bitcoin.org Or is Schmidt using the term "peer-to-peer" liberally? Edit: looks like I am right, a CNN article specifically mentions Bitcoin: http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/28/technology/google_future_of_...
The article says the statement was in response to audience questions, so this may have been in planning before Bitcoin was even released in 2009 (for all we know, Satoshi Nakamoto could be a Google employee who decided to take up the project personally). Not saying this is the case (obviously I don't have any proof either way), and I'm not personally that fond of Google, but Google may not entirely be at fault here.
I was following along for theverge's live blog of his keynote, i got the impression that this was a pre-bitcoin notion and it was dropped because they predicted most of the problems bitcoin is currently experiencing.
To me, the much more interesting part of his speech was that he seemed very in favor of overthrowing governments who restrict Internet access.
I may be reading too much into things on both of these points.
Re: Google once considered issuing currency - Eric Schmidt
#6> The idea was to implement a "peer-to-peer money" system. Wow. I wonder if it literally means they were thinking of duplicating the (world's first) digital peer-to-peer currency: http://www.bitcoin.org Or is Schmidt using the term "peer-to-peer" liberally? Edit: looks like I am right, a CNN article specifically mentions Bitcoin: http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/28/technology/google_future_of_...
I lived on a hippy commune from 1974 to 1979 - we had our own currency then, called 'trash' in which we could buy anything we wanted. It was a peer-to-peer currency which was printed on the packs of cigarettes. When I was 4 years old, I bought my first vehicle with Trash, a golf cart which I drove around the property. Bit-coin may be digital, but it is not the first peer-to-peer currency. We also had our own TV stati…
I edited my post to clarify: first digital p2p currency.
Re: Google once considered issuing currency - Eric Schmidt
#7Interestingly, the relative weakness of reserve currencies has made this plausible in a real way. As the debt risk of countries becomes closer to the strongest multinationals it creates the possibility for the debt of multinationals to be lower risk than any currency it can be denominated in, which happened briefly a couple years ago for the first time ever. In effect, the debt instruments are currency.
Right now, governments have the ability to inflate their currencies to pay for their excessive spending. If non-governmental instruments become stronger than reserve currencies then it will create a novel situation where they can't inflate away the debt even if every other government is doing it. That is new territory. Companies that generate and preserve value on a global basis will have financial instruments that are de facto currencies, much in the way gold is.
That would be an interesting time.
Re: Google once considered issuing currency - Eric Schmidt
#8Interestingly, the relative weakness of reserve currencies has made this plausible in a real way. As the debt risk of countries becomes closer to the strongest multinationals it creates the possibility for the debt of multinationals to be lower risk than any currency it can be denominated in, which happened briefly a couple years ago for the first time ever. In effect, the debt instruments are currency. Right now, go…
Companies do have "currencies" that can hold value independent of FX - secured bonds. Otherwise, commodities take the role of liquid non-fiat value holders. Substituting a government-backed currency with a corporate-backed one is a terrible idea given that a corporate is subjugated to a sovereign (and pays its debt in sovereign currency [ignoring the marginal role in-kind bond payments play]). Thus, one is accepting an inherently inferior proposition.
It should be noted, though, that many multinationals' bonds trade healthier than many sovereigns' currencies.
Re: Google once considered issuing currency - Eric Schmidt
#9> The idea was to implement a "peer-to-peer money" system. Wow. I wonder if it literally means they were thinking of duplicating the (world's first) digital peer-to-peer currency: http://www.bitcoin.org Or is Schmidt using the term "peer-to-peer" liberally? Edit: looks like I am right, a CNN article specifically mentions Bitcoin: http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/28/technology/google_future_of_...
> I wonder if it literally means they were thinking of duplicating the (world's first) digital peer-to-peer currency: http://www.bitcoin.org
I think you forgot about digicash's product 'ecash'.
Claiming a 'first' in any field is difficult, to claim a 'first' in payment systems is a very tricky affair.
It may be that bitcoin is the first practical digital peer-to-peer currency but even that is up to interpretation, no doubt someone had something they launched that failed before it and plenty of people would disagree that it is practical as it is implemented today.
Re: Google once considered issuing currency - Eric Schmidt
#10> The idea was to implement a "peer-to-peer money" system. Wow. I wonder if it literally means they were thinking of duplicating the (world's first) digital peer-to-peer currency: http://www.bitcoin.org Or is Schmidt using the term "peer-to-peer" liberally? Edit: looks like I am right, a CNN article specifically mentions Bitcoin: http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/28/technology/google_future_of_...
> I wonder if it literally means they were thinking of duplicating the (world's first) digital peer-to-peer currency: http://www.bitcoin.org I think you forgot about digicash's product 'ecash'. Claiming a 'first' in any field is difficult, to claim a 'first' in payment systems is a very tricky affair. It may be that bitcoin is the first practical digital peer-to-peer currency but even that is up to interpretation, no…
ecash was not truly peer-to-peer. On the contrary, the concept relied crucially on centralization as ecash would have been withdrawn from existing banks & credit card companies: http://web.archive.org/web/19970111163957/http://www.digicas...
In fact, bit gold, RPOW, and b-money (from respectively Nick Szabo, Hal Finney, and Wei Dai) were the only similar ideas predating Bitcoin, but none of them were ever implemented... Which is why one can say that Bitcoin truly is the first implementation of a digital p2p currency, where everything, including the issuance of money, is decentralized.