Disclaimer: Since we’re talking about bitcoin, cryptocurrencies in this podcast, and I reference my work as a financial advisor, I must emphasize that the content of this podcast is for information and educational purposes ONLY. Nothing discussed here should be taken as personal financial or investment advice for any individual or group. Onwards!
Bitcoin keeps pushing close to the $100,000 mark, which is a long way from where the world’s most prominent cryptocurrency started in 2010. The crazy thing is that, relatively speaking, bitcoin is still in its infancy, yet it is making a mark on politics and economics alike. From recalibrating the political economy of El Salvador to its use as an alternative source of money for Russian dissidents and Ukrainian refugees, bitcoin is carving out space for itself in the global economy.
To help unpack bitcoin, how it works, and its growing use as “resistance money,” I’ve brought on friend and colleague Andrew Bailey from Yale-NUS to discuss Resistance Money: A Philosophical Case for Bitcoin, a book he recently published with coauthors Bradley Rettler and Craig Warmke.
In this discussion, we explore Bitcoin’s evolution, its use as resistance money, the El Salvador experiment, and how Bitcoin mining is contributing to developing green energy infrastructure around the world. It’s a fascinating discussion that helped me broaden my view of what had been a somewhat mysterious topic to me prior to reading Andrew’s work.
Digging deeper
The last word
Despite the hopes of many bitcoin diehards, it won’t end war, restore the traditional family, or fix the real estate market. It won’t improve nutrition, inspire a return to Renaissance-style art, or revive nineteenth-century architecture. Bitcoin does not fix everything. It fixes a few things - and even breaks some others. But what it does fix is of great consequence.
Resistance Money, page 14
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