Bitcoin has been one of the most talked about talked topics over the past year. Despite of this there is relatively little economic research that has been done on the topic so far. However, a new working paper by William Luther and Josiah Olson add important insight to the economics of bitcoin.
This is the abstract for Luther and Olson’s paper “Bitcoin is Memory”:
“We maintain that the crypto-currency bitcoin is a practical application of what is termed “memory” in the monetary economics literature. After reviewing the theoretical literature on money and memory, we offer a brief overview of the bitcoin protocol and argue that, like memory, bitcoin functions as a public record-keeping device. Finally, we provide evidence that — in line with the standard theoretical account of memory — bitcoin use has soared as the expected cost of storing traditional monies increased.”
Have a look and let me hear what you think of Will and Josiah’s paper.
Will is telling me that he and Josiah have more in the pipeline. I will look forward to that – Will never disappoints writing interesting stuff.
Ann Garden
/ March 22, 2015I never heard it quite explained that way but I see his points. I look forward to seeing how this expands and gets more recognition as a valid source of currency in every home. I don’t expect it to happen anytime soon. I feel it is 5 to 10 years a head of its time. Either way, it is an exciting time!