Bitcoin “solves not a single issue”, according to an economics professor from Zurich University
Hans-Joachim Voth, a professor of economics at the University of Zurich, is among the critics of Bitcoin (BTC), the cryptocurrency industry’s main asset, despite the fact that the cryptocurrency industry is expanding daily.
As he told Kitco News’ David Lin in an interview published on September 13, although acknowledging that blockchain technology has certain benefits, Voth does not think Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies can replace money or address any current monetary concerns.
In the conversation, Voth highlighted the modern monetary theory (MMT), which proposes that the government may fix a number of issues by printing more money without fear of repercussions since it is the issuer of the currency.
He disagreed with it, arguing that it was appealing but implausible, and emphasized that the gold standard or the Bretton Woods system was an example of an option that would still fail to resolve these issues. As he elaborated:
“The main purpose of the gold standard is to revoke the driver’s license of governments and central banks and say, ‘no, no, there’s a completely artificially chosen limited quantity of X, and that restricts how much money you can issue, and then everything will be better, and I think that’s ridiculous.”
In response to a question from the host on whether a Bitcoin standard might solve some of the issues or accomplish some of the things that the Bretton Woods system failed to achieve, Voth expressed his scepticism over such a scenario, stating:
“I just do not see a single issue answered by cryptocurrencies, and particularly not by Bitcoin, which is an environmental and transactional nightmare. However, Ethereum and all other cryptocurrencies are solutions seeking a problem.”
However, the professor from the University of Zurich admits that “blockchain offers a variety of appealing qualities,” but he adds that “the notion that this could replace money seems entirely incorrect to me.”
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