The distributed proof of work / ledger system is an extremely cool insight, but that's what it is - an insight. Typically, a computer science PhD involves doing

The distributed proof of work / ledger system is an extremely cool insight, but that's what it is - an insight. Typically, a computer science PhD involves doing a lot of actual _work_ proving things and so on, which hasn't happened here. This isn't to put it down, at all. It's just to say that the two things are kind of orthogonal. No PhD-granting econ department would grant a PhD for this. They'll just keep laughing and nay-saying until bitcoin goes out of fashion, or proves them completely obsolete and out of touch with reality. At which point they'll just keep going on, just as the philosophy departments have despite their proven irrelevance.