Bernanke on bitcoin
Max Keiser of Russia Today drops by to explain the genesis and implications of the digital currency Bitcoin, why The Federal Reserve and the banking system should apologise to the people for manipulating interest rates, how Warren Buffett is complicit in the Mexican drug trade by purchasing Wells Fargo, and Max's crazy times in the s as a New York City stockbroker by day and punk-rock party animal by night. Interviews and insight from the leading figures in crypto and decentralised finance. Hosted by Brian Rose. Login Email Password Having trouble logging in? Toggle navigation. Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode.
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Content:
- How porn links and Ben Bernanke snuck into Bitcoin's code
- The Face Behind Bitcoin
- Why the Greenspan-Bernanke put option may have expired
- 'Assassination Market' Website Offers Bitcoin Bounty to Kill Obama, Bernanke and Others.
- A digital currency should be adopted as the world's leading reserve currency
- The Perils of Bitcoin as Currency
- Bitcoin and the U.S. Fiscal Reckoning
- Baffled by Bitcoin
- Column: Bitcoin, dogecoin, NFTs, GameStop — is this the peak of investment absurdity?
How porn links and Ben Bernanke snuck into Bitcoin's code
We are moving to a world that uses currencies secured by cryptographical systems. It's time our social and political institutions seriously consider what this will mean for them and the people they protect and represent, argues argues Carl Miller, Research Director at the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at think tank Demos.
Follow him on Twitter at carljackmiller. Vires in Numeris -- "Strength in Numbers" -- is the motto printed on minted bitcoins. Of course, these gleaming little discs of metal are fake. The real bitcoin and the meaning of the motto is hidden on the back. Under a sticker is a string of numbers and letters, a private key that, in a system involving cryptography, 'blockchains', mining, hashes and community authentication, allows you to hold and exchange units of value.
The strength of numbers, not government fiat, to secure value for a currency is not a new idea. In computer scientist David Chaum wrote a groundbreaking paper on the concept of a cryptographically secure digital currency.
Chaum subsequently developed Ecash , one of the first electronic money systems. It failed. After Ecash, other electronic currencies such as 'bit gold', 'RPOW' and 'b-money' also tried and failed to depose fiat currency. Now, unlike its less illustrious predecessors, Bitcoin looks like the first cryptocurrency that is really giving fiat currencies a run for their money pun intended.
A long-time favourite of travellers of the Silk Road, the "amazon. When the Silk Road was busted in October , Bitcoin plunged in value, and many thought that it was going the way of the earlier failed attempts.
Instead, it has gone through a kind of purging. It is now attracting significant venture capital investment , and its exchange with offline currencies is growing more intense. It has taken the first steps along the road towards recognition and legitimation by authorities:. Germany has recognised it , kind of, as a "unit of account" and Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve has carefully said they " may hold long-term promise ".
Over the last three weeks, the value of the cryptocurrency has quadrupled, and there are now 60, bitcoin transactions a day.
It now stands at a crossroad: will it be a currency or commodity? It is currently used more as a store of value -- something that can be speculated to increase, decrease or at least maintain a value.
Rather like London real estate, it is something that money can flee to: the number of people using it sharply spiked after it was announced that accounts in Cyprus were about to receive an infamous haircut. However beyond either hedge-fund speculation or the Silk Road, it's easy to see the appeal of Bitcoin to normal people like you and me.
It is a cheaper way to do business. Buying something using a credit card can cost three or even five percent for the buyer, and sellers stump up merchant fees, usually around 2.
For this reason, both small traders and corporates are not necessarily hostile to it you can buy a Subway with bitcoin in Pennsylvania , honey in Denver. For those living in shaky, uncertain financial systems, the mathematical rigour of cryptographical guarantees can look reassuringly secure.
Many see a system that replaces central control with flat, peer-to-peer authentication as inherently safer: impossible to completely control and much harder to manipulate. But when bitcoin does indeed step over the threshold and into our world as a living currency -- as I think it probably will, starting with online purchasers and then migrating into the offline world -- the possible challenges will make Silk Road trading seem like small fry.
In commerce, the volatility of Bitcoin's actual value remains a huge problem. Over a few hours, the healthy daily profit of a Bitcoin-using pub can turn into a terrible loss as Chinese operators change their mind about its value. Last week Bitcoin lost a third of its worth against the dollar in 48 hours. Consumers will remain worried about how secure it, to hacks, dubious brokers and exchanges, and how to deal with refunds and thefts.
But the most fundamental and existential issues are reserved for nation-states as the founders would have wanted. Peer-to-peer currencies reduce the ability of central banks to manipulate the money supply; have significant implications for how to track illegal transactions and may erode tax raising powers. Rubbing salt into the wound, it is now bitcoin miners, not Governments that receive ' seigniorage ', revenue earned by issuing the currency.
Many bitcoiners are avid anarchists, who may wish and actively work to keep bitcoin separate. In truth, no-one can be sure what will happen. Chinese authorities have in the last few days banned their banks from handling bitcoin and, anyway, it may not be bitcoin that eventually triumphs. Peercoin, Anoncoin, Zerocoin, Litecoin are all bring different strengths and benefits, from privacy and anonymity to the efficiency of the transaction.
What bitcoin is however showing us is that Vires in Numeris is not ringing hollow. We will likely wake up to a world that uses currencies secured by cryptographical systems, and it is time that our social and political institutions seriously consider what this will mean for them and the people they protect and represent. Tomorrow, my think-tank, Demos , is launching a series on cryptocurrencies and their long-term impacts on politics and society.
The task now is to ensure that if cryptocurrencies creep into our lives, they make them better; that they encourage innovation, business freedom, consumer choice, without undermining the key functions of the state; to promote basic social goods without washing this promising and fragile new asset away in a sea of regulation. Watch this space. Search Events Jobs Consulting.
Follow him on Twitter at carljackmiller Vires in Numeris -- "Strength in Numbers" -- is the motto printed on minted bitcoins. Topics Business Bitcoin Technology.
The Face Behind Bitcoin
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Why the Greenspan-Bernanke put option may have expired
Subscriber Account active since. So with eyes on today's Bitcoin Senate hearing, where does the world's most powerful central banker stand on the elusive cryptocurrency? Now we know. Ahead of the meeting, U. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has released a letter to help guide the senate. Quartz's Zachary Seward called it a "cautious blessing," with Bernanke acknowledging the Fed doesn't have the authority to supervise virtual currencies, but that they " may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system. Here's Bernanke's full letter via Quartz :. Dear Senators: Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding virtual currencies. As you noted, virtual currencies have been receiving increased attention from U.
'Assassination Market' Website Offers Bitcoin Bounty to Kill Obama, Bernanke and Others.
Ben Bernanke has had plenty of time to reflect on his career and personal political views since removing himself as head of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke, speaking to Quartz , discussed his time as leading the Federal Reserve, why he no longer considers himself a Republican, and why Bitcoin has "serious" problems. According to Bernanke, we have entered an era where the payments system is "evolving quickly" with new approaches to payments "proliferating. Simonite spoke with Gavin Andresen, known in circles as Bitcoin's "chief caretaker" -- he says the currency can't process more than seven transactions per second. Visa processes thousands times that amount.
A digital currency should be adopted as the world's leading reserve currency
Former Federal Reserve chairs Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen are raising questions about the role hedge funds played in the March market tumult. The duo pointed out in an essay that says the Fed was pushed into action as a result of a breakdown in market functioning triggered by massive hedge fund selling in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic declaration. As the market became flooded with Treasurys and other long-term securities, buyers bailed out and the Fed had to step in with liquidity facilities and asset purchases aimed at maintaining basic functioning. Both former central bankers served during the financial crisis, Bernanke as chair and Yellen as president of the San Francisco Fed. Yellen succeeded Bernanke and guided the Fed through the early days of policy normalization after the extraordinary measures taken during the crisis. Their essay touched on a number of points drawing on their crisis experience, largely praising the Fed for its response to the pandemic.
The Perils of Bitcoin as Currency
Five days later, the Internal Revenue Service ruled that it would treat bitcoin as property for tax purposes, applying the same rules that it applies to stocks. Immediate reactions to the announcement vary. To those concerned with security in the Internet Age, the ruling is the first step in monitoring the mysterious, sometimes nefarious activities with which bitcoin is associated. To those fascinated by bitcoin as an experiment in monetary freedom, the ruling signals that bitcoin is coming closer to the mainstream—as lawful property now, and hopefully as recognized, nationless currency later. Either way, technology that redefines money is steadily forcing the hands of governments everywhere. The simplest message in the IRS ruling is the most important: bitcoin remains unrecognized as currency in the US. It was the right decision.
Bitcoin and the U.S. Fiscal Reckoning
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Baffled by Bitcoin
People can use bitcoins—which are just strings of numbers—to buy goods and services by transferring them electronically across the Internet. Enthusiasm about bitcoin has soared with its price, but the theories as to why are as speculative as the currency itself. Many critics see a bubble based on the greater fool theory that if I pay something for a worthless asset I can make profits by reselling it at a higher price to someone more foolish than I am. Other former skeptics, like Business Insider's Joe Weisenthal , are coming around.
Column: Bitcoin, dogecoin, NFTs, GameStop — is this the peak of investment absurdity?
Lael Brainard, a member of the Federal Reserve board, discussed cryptocurrency at a virtual conference hosted by CoinDesk. Click the play button and tap the screen to see the at the bottom of the player. Tap the to see a complete list of all Points of Interest - click on any moment in the list and the video will play. Click the play button and move your cursor over the video to see the. Click on the marker to see the description and watch. You can also click the in the lower left of the video player to see a complete list of all Points of Interest from this program - click on any moment in the list and the video will play. New York University media, culture and communication professor Finn Brunton talked about digital currencies.
The last few weeks have been complicated for the bitcoin, the virtual currency created in by an anonymous programmer under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto. The key feature of this currency is its peer-to-peer payment system user to user, without intermediaries based on open source software administered by a community of volunteers. There is no central authority or central bank managing the system and no-one owns it.
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