Bitcoin, the Mother of all Bubbles or the Future of Money?

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
Sebastian Ilie Dragoe ◽  
Camelia Oprean-Stan

AbstractCrypto currencies have sparked great interest lately not only among regular people, billionaires and Wall Street, but it also caught the attention of national and global financial regulators across the world. In this article, we try to answer the following questions: what is bitcoin? It is money, a mean of payment, a huge bubble or just a way to evade taxes, launder money and fund illegal trade? We will answer these questions by testing whether bitcoin is a bubble with the help of right-tailed ADF tests and analyzing if the price of bitcoin has experienced shocks. We identify bitcoin price shock when the price of bitcoin is above its Hodrick-Prescott trend plus one standard deviation. Also, we will analyze if bitcoin fulfils the roles of money and if itself or a stablecoin like Libra can attain an important place within the international monetary system. We will also research the potential risks associated with the adoption of Libra, especially in poorer countries. Despite Bitcoin and Libra’s weaknesses, an advantage is that they insist on the necessity of faster and cheaper cross-border funds transfers 24/7, 365 days a year.

Author(s):  
Артур Анатолійович Василенко

UDC 336.74   Vasylenko Artur, post-graduate student. Mariupol State University. Cryptocurrency Phenomenon in the International Monetary System. The main prerequisites of cryptocurrency emergence in the international monetary system in terms of regionalization of the world economy are defined in the article. Determination of «cryptocurrency» category was analysed from the point of two main approaches to its treatment: on the one hand cryptocurrency is admitted to be the currency equally to the sovereign currency, and on the other hand it is considered as an unrecognized virtual asset. The main consequences which arise in case of widespread use of crypto currency for the country and for the parties that agreed to use cryptocurrency were analysed and systematized. On the basis of the research, given the current trends in the world economy, the author put forward and substantiated the hypothesis to classify the phenomenon of cryptocurrency as the effects of a famous philosophical «Negation of negation law» formulated by G. Hegel at the beginning of the XIX century.   Keywords: cryptocurrency, material money, electronic money, digital currency, regional currency integration, blockchain, mining, capitalization, «Negation of negation law».


2017 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 295-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Farhi ◽  
Matteo Maggiori

AbstractWe propose a simple model of the international monetary system. We study the world supply and demand for reserve assets denominated in different currencies under a variety of scenarios: a hegemon versus a multipolar world; abundant versus scarce reserve assets; and a gold exchange standard versus a floating rate system. We rationalize the Triffin dilemma, which posits the fundamental instability of the system, as well as the common prediction regarding the natural and beneficial emergence of a multipolar world, the Nurkse warning that a multipolar world is more unstable than a hegemon world, and the Keynesian argument that a scarcity of reserve assets under a gold standard or at the zero lower bound is recessionary. Our analysis is both positive and normative.


2012 ◽  
Vol 57 (194) ◽  
pp. 31-39
Author(s):  
Vladimirovna Rozhentsova

The modern international monetary system has a number of flaws and therefore needs cardinal change. Hence, economists from all over the world are suggesting alternative international currencies that would make the international monetary system more efficient. However, it is essential when approaching the creation of a new international currency to analyze and take into account the experience of all the past international currencies. Therefore this paper begins with an exploration of the drawbacks of each of the past and present international currencies. Drawing on this analysis a justification will be made for the necessity of introducing a new international currency, pointing to the requirements it should meet. Further on, this paper proposes an alternative theoretically possible variant of the international currency, with a fixed value relative to a commodity basket. An abstract example is used to demonstrate its composition and circulation mechanism.


Author(s):  
Timothy Alborn

From the early eighteenth century into the 1830s, Great Britain was the only major country in the world to adopt gold as the sole basis of its currency, in the process absorbing much of the world’s supply of that metal into its pockets, cupboards, and coffers. During the same period, Britons forged a nation by distilling a heady brew of Protestantism, commerce, and military might, while preserving important features of its older social hierarchy. All That Glittered argues for a close connection between these occurrences, by linking justifications for gold’s role in British society—starting in the 1750s and running through the mid-nineteenth century gold rushes in California and Australia—to contemporary descriptions of that metal’s varied values at home and abroad. Most of these accounts attributed British commercial and military success to a credit economy pinned on gold, stigmatized southern European and subaltern peoples for their nonmonetary uses of gold, or tried to marginalize people at home for similar forms of alleged misconduct. This book tells a primarily cultural origin story about the gold standard’s emergence after 1850 as an international monetary system, while providing a new window on British exceptionalism during the previous century.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-107
Author(s):  
Haiping Qiu ◽  
Min Zhao

Purpose The world currency is endowed with two inherent contradictions, namely, the general contradiction of all currencies and the special contradiction between the quality and quantity of the world currency. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach In the wake of the Second World War, the USA, with its strong economic and military strength, established an international monetary system centered on the US dollar (USD). This gave USD the status of “world currency” and bounded it to the US imperialist hegemony with mutual integration and interaction, making it possible for USD capital to conduct international exploitation and wealth plundering extensively around the world. Findings The contradiction between the capital logic and the power logic, which is inherent in capital accumulation models of the new imperialism, also indicates the inevitable decline of USD. Originality/value This constitutes an important feature of the new imperialism. However, as a sovereign currency, USD has inextricable and inherent contradictions while exercising its function as the world currency.


2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (12) ◽  
pp. 44-53
Author(s):  
A. Kuznetsov

The author discusses the factors and trends that determine the British pound’s competitive position in various segments of the international monetary system. Despite the devaluation effect caused by Brexit, the pound is still the most expensive of the key international currencies. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that the ratio of the British pound monetary aggregate M1 to GDP is significantly lower than that of other major economies – issuers of reserve currencies. Thus, the pound has the lowest monetary risk of depreciation compared to other currencies. On the other hand, the international significance of the pound sterling is explained by the ability of British economy to service the huge external debt, which in relative size is the largest among the leading economies of the world. This state of affairs is achieved due to the fact that London is home to the largest number of foreign companies in the world that carry out operations in various Eurocurrencies, acting simultaneously as the main issuers of external debt obligations. The attractiveness of the pound sterling as the currency for the nomination of international debt instruments is due to the less risky currency profile of the pound sterling, as well as the relatively higher profitability of debt instruments. After the global financial crisis, the share of the pound in the official reserves of other countries and in the implementation of international payments is gradually increasing. The author comes to the conclusion about the possible strengthening of the future role of the pound as a stabilizer of international economic relations against the backdrop of an increase in unpredictable events taking place on both sides of the Atlantic such as fiscal crisis of the euro area, Brexit, the growing political tension in the USA, COVID 19. These events are increasingly threatening leading positions of the US dollar and the euro as the key international currencies.


1977 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-156
Author(s):  
Arthur Karasz

There are several crucial reasons for the need to reform the world economy. First, the worldwide inflation, a terrible cancerous disease which, if uncontrolled, might destroy the roots of economic development. Second (a direct consequence of inflation), a sudden imbalance in our international monetary system: capital flight in monstrous dimensions, devaluation of important reserve currencies, the United States dollar, the English pound, followed by the Japanese yen and a number of European currencies. Third, growing unemployment all over the world, again as a consequence of inflation and of a worldwide lack of confidence. Finally, but not least, the growing conflict of the developing countries, mainly in the Southern Hemisphere, with the industrialized world mainly in the Northern. This north-south struggle, brewing for long years, has reached the dimensions of what we might call an “economic cold war” on a worldwide level. Thus far, efforts to find new solutions which would be satisfactory to both consumers and producers have failed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 0-0
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Klimiuk

The subject of the article is an analysis of the role of the US dollar in the development of international trade and the world economy during the period of the Bretton Woods monetary system (1944–1971). The international monetary system existing at that time was, in principle, a gold exchange standard based mainly on the national currency of the United States. However, a relatively small role was also played by other currencies including, in particular, the pound sterling. It should be noted that the Bretton Woods rules did not match the conditions in the world economy which emerged after World War II. The main areas of criticism concerned such assumptions as the maintenance of an official fixed price for gold, or a too narrowly interpreter postulate for the stability of the exchange rate. On the other hand, it should be noted that the introduction of the stability of exchange rates and the abolition of restrictions on payments were fundamentally sound decisions. They led in fact to the minimisation of a risk inherent in international trade and its rapid growth. One should also emphasise the fact that from the very beginning, in the international gold based monetary system there was an internal contradiction (paradox), which eventually led to its collapse. This was namely the fact that the growth in world trade created a growing demand for international liquidity. This was tantamount to a necessity to maintain a permanent balance of payments deficit in respect of the country whose currency was considered the key currency. At the same time, the growing volume of the US currency resulted in an increasing crisis of confidence in the dollar.


1999 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-115 ◽  

As host to APEC this year, Malaysia feels a strong sense of responsibility that the meeting should help tackle the current economic problems. As we approach a new millennium, it is imperative that we devise and put in place a better economic and financial regime now referred to as architecture for the world. Some of these will be the result of technological progress but others will reflect the emergence of new commercial and sociological ideas and values. With your indulgence, I would like to take this opportunity to discuss the present architecture or lack of it as manifested by the anarchical and unregulated capital flows in the international monetary system. In doing so we must not be tied down by fanatical beliefs which act as mental blocks to our recognition of the facts involved.


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