Research

The Bitcoin Project and the Free Market

Year 2013
Author Mihaela Iavorschi
Publisher CES Working Papers
Link View Research Paper
Categories

Cryptocurrencies

The human innovation in the field of monetary freedom takes shape in the virtual communities. Developed and implemented through a decentralised algorithm, the bitcoin project has so far proved itself a success in the field of virtual currency. Beyond the technical part of operation, the authors of this paper analyse the theoretical principles underlying the bitcoin.

This study shows that the bitcoin largely meets the role of natural money of gold and silver, in compliance to the free market’s behaviour. This allows us to observe the fact that people are aware of the negative implications the state’s intervention has in the monetary filed, thus deciding to create and use their own currency in online transactions.

In today’s world, dominated by the mainstream doctrine it is difficult to foresee a certain and glorious future for the bitcoin project and currency. Nonetheless, the fact that the bitcoin currency operates inside the virtual communities proves that money is the property of the individuals and not of the state or central bank as we would tend to believe. From a theoretical point of view, the author finds the bitcoin project as a highly rated initiative, an impulse towards monetary freedom and a return to the liberal principles of the classical school of thought