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I don't know if bitcoin is doomed to fail or not but, the thesis of this article isn't credible. There has never been anything like cryptocurrency in the histo

I don't know if bitcoin is doomed to fail or not but, the thesis of this article isn't credible. There has never been anything like cryptocurrency in the history of the world and this statement may well not apply: "They will fail, because money that is not issued by governments is always doomed to failure. Money is inevitably a tool of the state."

ewams 13y ago
Is gold issued by governments?
- snowwrestler 13y ago
  No, and it failed as a currency.
  - tzm 13y ago
    You are wrong. It didn't fail. It evolved into a more efficient currency model.
  - adamnemecek 13y ago
    But did it fail because it was not issued by the gov't? Or due to other factors?
  - nobodyshere 13y ago
    It did not fail as a currency to the point that in most countries you can't legally pay in gold. That should ring a bell. Also lots of countries try to keep as much gold as they can to back their exchange rates.
  - ye 13y ago
    It's mostly used as a "currency" storage, supposedly protected from inflation (which isn't really true, it gets mined at something like 2,500 tons per year).
  - kamjam 13y ago
    I don't think gold failed as a currency, I could pretty much go anywhere in the world with a bar of gold and exchange it for currency to buy whatever I want. It is still a universal currency, although not an everyday currency.
    - jljljl 13y ago
      Exchanging gold for currency doesn't make it a currency. Gold is an asset. If you brought your gold to different people, they might all quote you different amounts, based on how easily the merchant or exchanger could convert the gold into their own currency.
      - kamjam 13y ago
        Same goes for anything you actually buy with currency also.
  - swswsw 13y ago
    But silver was successfully used as a currency for a long time in history of certain countries.
  - Tycho 13y ago
    It 'failed' as a currency (after centuries) because nation-states with central banks found it disadvantageous for their overall economies. That doesn't mean the currency itself failed, just means it was abandoned by those seeking to implement monetary policy. It would be like saying P2P networking failed because vendors prefer the iTunes model.
  - sergiosgc 13y ago
    Did it? Or was it Bretton-Woods that failed? If I remember my History, Nixon decoupled the USD from gold to regain the ability to devalue the dollar, as a tool for dealing with the huge debt accrued during the Vietnam war. It wasn't a gold-currency world, it was a world of gold-backed US dollar. It makes a huge difference. While the advantages of being a reserve currency superceded the disadvantages of not having monetary control, Bretton-Woods stood. Once the tables turned, the US ended the gold backing. Bretton Woods stood for close to 40yrs. The current system has about the same age and much as Bretton Woods is failing because the US abused its position as reserve currency to wage war financed by debt. History does repeat itself, in slightly different color tones...
    - enraged_camel 13y ago
      >>Did it? Or was it Bretton-Woods that failed? If I remember my History, Nixon decoupled the USD from gold to regain the ability to devalue the dollar, as a tool for dealing with the huge debt accrued during the Vietnam war. The point is that it failed as a currency as soon as it lost the government's backing.
      - praxeologist 13y ago
        The gov't has outlawed gold and silver as currency in favor of its fiatbux. If my friend and I like eating Skittles then some bully come slaps us around if we eat them, that isn't failure of us liking Skittles.
        enraged_camel 13y ago
        No, the government came and said you can't use gold or silver to trade Skittles, because neither material is a convenient medium of exchange (which is unarguably correct).
        praxeologist 13y ago
        Fiat money has been around not even 200 years while various commodities used in coins worked fine for much longer. Oh but to you it isn't convenient somehow and this is "unarguably correct", lol whatever, spoken like a true state apologist I guess. Go on believing your own alternate history where the force and fraud of government are pretended away.
  - jpadkins 13y ago
    Then why do central banks still hold tons of gold?
- 21echoes 13y ago
  yes, most gold-backed currencies were issued by governments and contained a significant fiduciary element (aka, one gold coin was worth more than its weight in gold).
FlailFast 13y ago
Agreed. His entire argument boils down to "Money has never worked like bitcoin, so it can't possibly work." It's an absurd line of logic to use as a critique. It's like the RIM guys claiming no one would like iPhones because they don't have physical keyboards, and smartphones "have always had physical keyboards."
jakejake 13y ago
The authors also seems to lack backbone and hedges his bets with a final sentence. Something to the effect that bitcoin will continue to do well as long as government is not doing well. Despite the link-bait title, he doesn't seem to want to make a definitive statement.

ewams 13y ago

Is gold issued by governments?

snowwrestler 13y ago
No, and it failed as a currency.
- tzm 13y ago
  You are wrong. It didn't fail. It evolved into a more efficient currency model.
- adamnemecek 13y ago
  But did it fail because it was not issued by the gov't? Or due to other factors?
- nobodyshere 13y ago
  It did not fail as a currency to the point that in most countries you can't legally pay in gold. That should ring a bell. Also lots of countries try to keep as much gold as they can to back their exchange rates.
- ye 13y ago
  It's mostly used as a "currency" storage, supposedly protected from inflation (which isn't really true, it gets mined at something like 2,500 tons per year).
- kamjam 13y ago
  I don't think gold failed as a currency, I could pretty much go anywhere in the world with a bar of gold and exchange it for currency to buy whatever I want. It is still a universal currency, although not an everyday currency.
  - jljljl 13y ago
    Exchanging gold for currency doesn't make it a currency. Gold is an asset. If you brought your gold to different people, they might all quote you different amounts, based on how easily the merchant or exchanger could convert the gold into their own currency.
    - kamjam 13y ago
      Same goes for anything you actually buy with currency also.
- swswsw 13y ago
  But silver was successfully used as a currency for a long time in history of certain countries.
- Tycho 13y ago
  It 'failed' as a currency (after centuries) because nation-states with central banks found it disadvantageous for their overall economies. That doesn't mean the currency itself failed, just means it was abandoned by those seeking to implement monetary policy. It would be like saying P2P networking failed because vendors prefer the iTunes model.
- sergiosgc 13y ago
  Did it? Or was it Bretton-Woods that failed? If I remember my History, Nixon decoupled the USD from gold to regain the ability to devalue the dollar, as a tool for dealing with the huge debt accrued during the Vietnam war. It wasn't a gold-currency world, it was a world of gold-backed US dollar. It makes a huge difference. While the advantages of being a reserve currency superceded the disadvantages of not having monetary control, Bretton-Woods stood. Once the tables turned, the US ended the gold backing. Bretton Woods stood for close to 40yrs. The current system has about the same age and much as Bretton Woods is failing because the US abused its position as reserve currency to wage war financed by debt. History does repeat itself, in slightly different color tones...
  - enraged_camel 13y ago
    >>Did it? Or was it Bretton-Woods that failed? If I remember my History, Nixon decoupled the USD from gold to regain the ability to devalue the dollar, as a tool for dealing with the huge debt accrued during the Vietnam war. The point is that it failed as a currency as soon as it lost the government's backing.
    - praxeologist 13y ago
      The gov't has outlawed gold and silver as currency in favor of its fiatbux. If my friend and I like eating Skittles then some bully come slaps us around if we eat them, that isn't failure of us liking Skittles.
      - enraged_camel 13y ago
        No, the government came and said you can't use gold or silver to trade Skittles, because neither material is a convenient medium of exchange (which is unarguably correct).
        praxeologist 13y ago
        Fiat money has been around not even 200 years while various commodities used in coins worked fine for much longer. Oh but to you it isn't convenient somehow and this is "unarguably correct", lol whatever, spoken like a true state apologist I guess. Go on believing your own alternate history where the force and fraud of government are pretended away.
- jpadkins 13y ago
  Then why do central banks still hold tons of gold?
21echoes 13y ago
yes, most gold-backed currencies were issued by governments and contained a significant fiduciary element (aka, one gold coin was worth more than its weight in gold).

FlailFast 13y ago

Agreed. His entire argument boils down to "Money has never worked like bitcoin, so it can't possibly work." It's an absurd line of logic to use as a critique. It's like the RIM guys claiming no one would like iPhones because they don't have physical keyboards, and smartphones "have always had physical keyboards."

jakejake 13y ago

The authors also seems to lack backbone and hedges his bets with a final sentence. Something to the effect that bitcoin will continue to do well as long as government is not doing well. Despite the link-bait title, he doesn't seem to want to make a definitive statement.