Nobel Prize winning Economist, Joseph Stiglitz has spoken about about Bitcoin. The long and short of this assault is that Stiglitz believes Bitcoin should be made illegal. Stiglitz believes that it’s association with crime, fraud and laundering makes it a dangerous assets that should be criminalised. He also believes that regulation won’t work as it will render Bitcoin useless anyway. According to NewsBTC, Stiglitz told Bloomberg:
“We have a good medium of exchange called the dollar… we can trade in that. Why do people want bitcoin? For secrecy.”See more for yourself, here.NewsBTC believe that Stiglitz is wrong. So do we, it’s easy to see why as well.According to NewsBTC:
“Perhaps most glaring of Stiglitz misperceptions of Bitcoin is what he doesn’t mention, the underlying blockchain technology that has made Bitcoin possible. The technology that enables Bitcoin to offer its high level of security, transparency and transportability is being recognized by businesses and countries around the world as revolutionary and the greatest technological innovation since the internet itself.”Bitcoin is more than just a trading commodity, it is more than just an asset. Actually, Bitcoin is now a cultural icon, a symbol of a movement that promises to give control back to the masses. Stiglitz obviously has his investments in traditional conservative locations and therefore would benefit greatly if cryptocurrencies disappeared forever. He doesn’t however understand that it is the popularity and technology behind the blockchain that will not only keep Bitcoin at the fore of economics, but will drive it up into the mainstream financial world one day.The crime and deviance brush that tarnishes Bitcoin is troubling and is of course damaging, but we know the community is doing everything it can to prevent this. Even so, FIAT currency is just as associated with crime, so often this argument is redundant. You can probably argue that government controlled FIAT currencies are the primary justifications for a lot of crimes and that therefore, it would actually be more beneficial to make FIAT currencies illegal.Either way, the take home message from this story is this - just because somebody is registered as an expert, it doesn’t mean they are right. Your opinions matter, do your research and you too can help defend this industry from such trashy FUD. Investment Disclaimer