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Is Bitcoin a Waste of Resources?

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  • Stephen D. Williamson

Abstract

Do Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies play a useful social role, or do they represent a social waste? Bitcoin is a decentralized recordkeeping system, with updating of the record of transactions in the blockchain.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen D. Williamson, 2018. "Is Bitcoin a Waste of Resources?," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 100(2), pages 107-115.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlrv:00098
    DOI: 10.20955/r.2018.107-15
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ben Fung & Scott Hendry & Warren E. Weber, 2017. "Canadian Bank Notes and Dominion Notes: Lessons for Digital Currencies," Staff Working Papers 17-5, Bank of Canada.
    2. Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2016. "The Curse of Cash," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10798.
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    4. Aleksander Berentsen & Fabian Schär, 2018. "A Short Introduction to the World of Cryptocurrencies," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 100(1), pages 1-16.
    5. Sean Foley & Jonathan R Karlsen & Tālis J Putniņš, 2019. "Sex, Drugs, and Bitcoin: How Much Illegal Activity Is Financed through Cryptocurrencies?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1798-1853.
    6. Smith, Vernon L & Suchanek, Gerry L & Williams, Arlington W, 1988. "Bubbles, Crashes, and Endogenous Expectations in Experimental Spot Asset Markets," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(5), pages 1119-1151, September.
    7. George A. Akerlof & Robert J. Shiller, 2010. "Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 9163.
    8. David Andolfatto, 2018. "Blockchain: What It Is, What It Does, and Why You Probably Don’t Need One," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 100(2).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. James Chapman & Carolyn A. Wilkins, 2019. "Crypto ‘Money’: Perspective of a Couple of Canadian Central Bankers," Discussion Papers 2019-1, Bank of Canada.
    2. Juan Carlos Henao & Liliana López-Jiménez, 2021. "Disrupción tecnológica, transformación digital y sociedad. Tomo IV, Aires de revolución : nuevos desafíos tecnológicos a las instituciones económicas, financieras y organizacionales de nuestros tiempo," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 1283, October.
    3. Feng Dong & Zhiwei Xu & Yu Zhang, 2022. "Bubbly Bitcoin," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 74(3), pages 973-1015, October.
    4. Balcilar, Mehmet & Ozdemir, Huseyin & Agan, Busra, 2022. "Effects of COVID-19 on cryptocurrency and emerging market connectedness: Empirical evidence from quantile, frequency, and lasso networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 604(C).
    5. Sokolov, Konstantin, 2021. "Ransomware activity and blockchain congestion," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(2), pages 771-782.
    6. Kliber, Agata & Marszałek, Paweł & Musiałkowska, Ida & Świerczyńska, Katarzyna, 2019. "Bitcoin: Safe haven, hedge or diversifier? Perception of bitcoin in the context of a country’s economic situation — A stochastic volatility approach," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 524(C), pages 246-257.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E50 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - General
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • E59 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Other

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