Cryptocurrency offers a functional alternative to state-issued fiat money
Key Takeaways Currencies have value because they can function as a store of value and a unit of exchange. They also demonstrate six key attributes to enable their use in an economy. The definition of value in a currency has changed over centuries from physical attributes to the velocity of its use in an economy. Bitcoin demonstrates some attributes for a currency, but its main source of value lies in its restricted supply and increasing demand.
These qualities allow a currency to find widespread use in an economy. They also limit monetary inflation and ensure that the currencies are secure and safe to use. Currency is useful if it works as a store of value or, to put it differently, if it can reliably maintain its relative value over time. Throughout history, many societies used commodities or precious metals as methods of payment because they were considered to have a relatively stable value.
Rather than carry around cumbersome quantities of cocoa beans, gold, or other early forms of money, societies eventually turned to minted currency as an alternative. The first such currencies used metals like gold, silver, and bronze, which had long shelf lives and little risk of depreciation. Assigning value to currencies is a matter of debate. Initially, their value came from intrinsic physical properties.
For example, gold's value comes from the costs of extraction and certain qualitative factors, such as luster and purity content. In the modern age, government-issued currencies often take the form of paper money, which does not have the same intrinsic scarcity as precious metals.
For a long time, the value of paper money was determined by the amount of gold backing it. Even today, some currencies are " representative ," meaning that each coin or note can be directly exchanged for a specified amount of a commodity. The idea of a currency's value began changing in the 17th century. Prominent Scottish economist John Law wrote that money—currency issued by a government or monarch—"is not the value for which goods are exchanged, but the value by which they are exchanged.
This thinking hews closely to the modern credit theory for monetary systems. In this theory, commercial banks create money and value for currencies by lending to borrowers, who use the money to purchase goods and cause currency to circulate in an economy. After countries abandoned the gold standard in an effort to curb concerns about gold supplies, many global currencies are now classified as fiat.
Fiat currency is issued by a government and not backed by any commodity, but rather by the faith that individuals and governments have that others will accept that currency. Today, most major global currencies are fiat. Many governments and societies have found that fiat currency is the most durable and least susceptible to loss of value over time. The value of fiat currencies is a function of their demand and supply. The U. The Value of Digital Currencies Any discussion about the value of Bitcoin must address the nature of currency.
Gold was useful as currency due to its inherent physical attributes, but it was also cumbersome. Paper money was an improvement, but it requires manufacturing and storage and lacks the mobility of digital currencies. The digital evolution of money has moved away from physical attributes, and towards more functional characteristics. Here's an example. During the financial crisis, Ben Bernanke, who was then the governor of the Federal Reserve, appeared on CBS' 60 Minutes and explained how the agency "rescued" insurance giant American International Group AIG and other financial institutions from bankruptcy by lending money to them.
Puzzled, the interviewer asked whether the Fed had manufactured billions of dollars. That wasn't quite the case. In other words, the Fed "manufactured" U. This ability to "mark up" an account exemplifies the nature of currencies in their digital form.
It has implications for the velocity and use of currencies because it simplifies and streamlines transactions involving them. Why Does Bitcoin Have Value? Bitcoin does not have the backing of government authorities, nor does it have a system of intermediary banks to propagate its use.
A decentralized network consisting of independent nodes is responsible for approving consensus-based transactions in the Bitcoin network. There is no fiat authority in the form of a government or other monetary authority to act as a counterparty to risk and make lenders whole, so to speak, if a transaction goes awry.
The cryptocurrency does display some attributes of a fiat currency system, however. It is scarce, and it cannot be counterfeited. The only way that one would be able to create a counterfeit bitcoin would be by executing what is known as a double-spend. This refers to a situation in which a user "spends" or transfers the same bitcoin in two or more separate settings, effectively creating a duplicate record. By controlling a majority of all network power, this group could dominate the remainder of the network to falsify records.
However, such an attack on Bitcoin would require an overwhelming amount of effort, money, and computing power, thereby rendering the possibility extremely unlikely. But Bitcoin often fails the utility test because people rarely use it for retail transactions. The main source of value for Bitcoin is its scarcity. The argument for Bitcoin's value is similar to that of gold—a commodity that shares characteristics with the cryptocurrency.
The cryptocurrency is limited to a quantity of 21 million. Bitcoin is much more divisible than fiat currencies. One bitcoin can be divided into up to eight decimal places, with constituent units called satoshis. Most fiat currencies can only be divided into two decimal places for everyday use. If Bitcoin's price continues to rise over time, users with a tiny fraction of a bitcoin will still be able to make transactions with the cryptocurrency. Codruta Boar and Andreas Wehrli, Ready, steady, go?
Concurrently, multiple private, stabilized cryptocurrencies—commonly known as stablecoins—have emerged outside of statesponsored channels, as part of efforts designed to enhance liquidity and simplify settlement across the growing crypto ecosystem. Although the endgame of this extensive activity that spans agile fintechs, deep-pocketed incumbents, and mostly government-appointed central banks remains far from certain, the potential for significant disruption of established financial processes is clear.
The digital currency landscape The basic notion of a digital currency replacing the need for paper notes and coins as a means of exchange with computer-based money-like assets dates back more than a quarter of a century. Early efforts at creating digital cash—such as DigiCash and e-gold —were issued by central agencies. The emergence of Bitcoin in dramatically altered this model in two important ways: by establishing a decentralized blockchain-based ledger for transaction execution and record keeping, and by creating a now widely traded currency outside the control of any sovereign monetary authority.
Thousands of similar decentralized cryptocurrencies now exist, collectively generating billions of dollars in global transaction volume every day. Stablecoins aim to address these shortcomings by pegging their value to a unit of underlying asset, often issued on faster blockchains, and backing the coins wholly or partially with state-issued tender such as the dollar, pound, or euro , highly liquid reserves like government treasuries , or commodities such as precious metals.
Exhibit 1 We strive to provide individuals with disabilities equal access to our website. If you would like information about this content we will be happy to work with you. Some efforts to create CBDCs have been born out of reservations about the impact of privately issued stablecoins on financial stability and traditional monetary policy, and with the goal of improving access to central bank money for private citizens, creating greater financial inclusion and reducing payments friction. Exhibit 2 We strive to provide individuals with disabilities equal access to our website.
Beyond addressing the challenge of greater financial inclusion, some governments view CBDCs as programmable money—vehicles for monetary and social policy that could restrict their use to basic necessities, specific locations, or defined periods of time. Implementing such functionality will be a complex and multilayered undertaking. Meanwhile, central banks face the challenge of introducing a timely CBDC model at least on par with digital offerings of private-sector innovators in order to establish credibility with such efforts and achieve adoption.
While existing electronic payment systems are considered by some to be expensive, inefficient, and at times difficult to access, 3 3. Would you like to learn more about our Financial Services Practice? Potential future scenarios: Coexistence or primacy? It is too early to confidently forecast the trajectory and endgame for CBDCs and stablecoins, given the multitude of unresolved design factors still in play. For instance, will central banks focus first on retail or wholesale use cases, and emphasize domestic or cross-border applications?
And how rapidly will national agencies pursue regulation of stablecoins prior to issuing their own CBDCs? To begin to understand some of the potential scenarios, we need to appreciate the variety and applications of CBDCs and stablecoins. There is no single CBDC issuance model, but rather a continuum of approaches being piloted in various countries. One design aspect hinges on the entity holding CBDC accounts.
For instance, the account-based model being implemented in the Eastern Caribbean involves consumers holding deposit accounts directly with the central bank. The ECB approach under consideration involves licensed financial institutions each operating a permissioned node of the blockchain network as a conduit for distribution of a digital euro.
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