Friday, July 7, 2017

Reuters — PBOC adviser: bitcoin can be an asset but not a currency

Sheng Songcheng says bitcoin does not have attributes needed of a currency that can meet modern economic development needs….
He also said that Chinese monetary authorities should study issuing a central bank virtual currency that it can regulate and run properly.
Asia Times
PBOC adviser: bitcoin can be an asset but not a currency
Reuters

7 comments:

djrichard said...

Can it be loaned into existence? No? Sorry, that's not compatible with our business model.

Matt Franko said...

Bitcoin is not issued out of an authority...

NeilW said...

Bitcoin is an intangible asset that can be transferred relatively easily. That's it.

A currency is an expression of sovereign power used to transfer and create actual things for the public good.

And yes even banks are supposed to do that.

Tom Hickey said...

Blockchain like bitcoin is "mined" electronically. It is an ersatz precious metal, therefore an asset. It functions like a commodity rather than a currency of issue or financial instrument as a credit-debit relation.

André said...

Tom Hickey:

Except that commodities can be used for something, and bitcoins can't.

Gold has a lot of uses, including in electronics and jewelry markets. So it will always have some value.

Bitcoins are just nonsensical speculative bits of information floating around the internet. No wonder that its price is so absurdly volatile.

Tom Hickey said...

Right, André. As an virtual asset it's also an virtual commodity. It exists in the twilight between the real and the financial.

André said...

But "financial" base money is "backed" by taxes. Base money value is not derived from some delusional speculators. Base money is valuable because it has the power to free the holder from taxes and the respective penalties of not complying.

Bank deposits are just promises to redeem base money. If the issuer bank is trustworthy, it will be as valuable as base money, for the same reason (power to free taxes). So this kind of financial instrument is also valuable for a very real reason.

And bitcoin, what they can do? Nothing.