https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/21/bitcoin-could-be-another-failed-currency-robert-shiller-says.html Robert Shiller, best-known for warning about the housing and dot-com bubbles, pointed to the early 19th century when merchants tried to replace the gold standard with "time money." The "Cincinnati Time Store" for example sold merchandise in units of work, and closed just three years after it launched. One hundred years later during the Great Depression, economist John Pease Norton, proposed a dollar by electricity, which also failed to catch on.
"Each of these monetary innovations has been coupled with a unique technological story," Shiller wrote in a blog post Monday. "But, more fundamentally, all are connected with a deep yearning for some kind of revolution in society."
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are no different, he said. They were introduced by a community of entrepreneurs who as Shiller put it, "hold themselves above national governments, which are viewed as the drivers of a long train of inequality and war."
The mania around bitcoin today is also due in part to its mystery, the Yale University professor said.
"Practically no one, outside of computer science departments, can explain how cryptocurrencies work, and that mystery creates an aura of exclusivity, gives the new money glamour, and fills devotees with revolutionary zeal," Shiller said. "None of this is new, and, as with past monetary innovations, a seemingly compelling story may not be enough." GBTC...daily
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