Nouriel Roubini may have a mixed record in investment advice, but he is a pretty famous economist. (During the Clinton Administration, he was the Senior Economist for International Affairs in the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers.)
In a recent article for “Project Syndicate,” he gave several arguments against investing in cryptocurrencies. Namely:
cryptocurrencies fail at the three functions of money, because they do not provide a standard unit of account, a widely accepted means of payment or a stable store of value;
they are not fixed in quantity, because new coin issues take place frequently;
demand for them is primarily speculative;
they have no intrinsic value, even compared with fiat money (which can at least always be used to pay taxes); and
since their primary actual use is to skirt laws, they will face increasing regulatory pressures.
This forum seems like a good place to look for responses. Any comments? Here is a link to the article:
cryptocurrencies fail at the three functions of money, because they do not provide a standard unit of account, a widely accepted means of payment or a stable store of value;
bound to be stabilized after a while. I agree somewhat that all of us have grown citing the number in 1,2,3 form not .000356 … so I agree the current currencies won’t be something u can use to buy ur daily needs with it currently but I feel we are on track and somewhere down the lane it will be used as a proper digital currency.
they are not fixed in quantity, because new coin issues take place frequently;
the world is moving towards fixing this problem too. People have grown mature to understand what coin to invest it. I think this is a usual process when a new thing comes to the market. Acceptability takes time.
demand for them is primarily speculative;
they have no intrinsic value, even compared with fiat money (which can at least always be used to pay taxes);
very subjective. Teething problems. We are moving towards a world where everything is digital so hain something autonomous which cannot be corrupted will be a boon eventually.
and
since their primary actual use is to skirt laws, they will face increasing regulatory pressures.
Of course we need regulatory pressure otherwise there will be people with their own currency and no one to accept it. Regulating it isn’t the problem. We are the kind of people who are dying to break the rules so I feel that pressure is absolutely necessary to put this system to good use.
The current currencies won’t be something you can use to buy the daily needs with it currently, but we are on track and somewhere down the lane that it will be used as a proper digital currency in the near future.
man before the wavecrest bann you could get an altcoin credit card and charge the cards directly with altcoins (used to do it with zec) and then you can pay for everyday purchases (coffee, lunch,…) without problems. as alternative u can use some altcoins like LTC for direct purchase at few selected shops and restaurants… the sad part is since the bann only few cards are still working but the usage fees are killing the main purpose of them
True, but lots of Partners we’ve spoken with are working on crypto credit card offerings.
Sadly for some, including me, they’ll be slow to be offered in the US, even though they work in the US, because of regulatory hurdles to offering them here.
You’ll be able to fly to South Korea, get a crypto linked debit card that works just fine, and bring it to the United States and use it just fine. But it will be some time longer before a US card issuer will let you get one in the US.
Cryptocurrency could be an effective online currency exchange; however, buyers buy up bitcoins with the intent of investing much as they would with stocks.
Imagine you have a business and you are using a blockchain for registering components…
Won’t it be difficult for parts to “dissapear into thin air”, as long as they have an immutable copy, on that blockchain?
Money aside, tracking would be a cinch.
