Everyone’s talking about the fast growing digital currency Bitcoin. Jamie Dimon hates it, Marc Andreessen loves it, and Alan Greenspan thinks it’s a bubble with no intrinsic value.
I think Bitcoin reflects the fact that while commerce is increasingly global and digital, money isn’t. But while Bitcoin may gain traction as a safe, easy to use retail currency in the digital era, I’m not so sure it will ever be a global currency a la the dollar or euro, one in which debt is issued or stocks traded. After all, it has no sovereign to guarantee its value and no central bank to regulate its ups and downs (which tend to be sharp).
For more on whether you should be buying into Bitcoin, check out this week’s version of WNYC’s Money Talking.
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