IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bcl/bclwop/bclwp115.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Monetary theory reversed: Virtual currency issuance and miners’ remuneration

Author

Listed:
  • Luca Marchiori

Abstract

This study analyzes the macroeconomic implications of virtual currency issuance. It builds on a standard cash-in-advance model extended with (i) ‘virtual’ goods, sold against virtual currency, and (ii) miners, the agents providing payment services. The main finding is that virtual currency growthmay have effects opposite to those predicted by monetary theory when miners are rewarded with newly created coins. Declining currency issuance, as in Bitcoin, raises the price of virtual goods, which counteracts the traditional impact of a reduced inflation tax. The paper also shows how fiat money growth affects the welfare effects of virtual currency creation.

Suggested Citation

  • Luca Marchiori, 2018. "Monetary theory reversed: Virtual currency issuance and miners’ remuneration," BCL working papers 115, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcl:bclwop:bclwp115
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bcl.lu/en/publications/Working-papers/115/BCLWP115.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Bagnall & David Bounie & Kim P. Huynh & Anneke Kosse & Tobias Schmidt & Scott Schuh, 2016. "Consumer Cash Usage: A Cross-Country Comparison with Payment Diary Survey Data," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 12(4), pages 1-61, December.
    2. Chari, V. V. & Christiano, Lawrence J. & Kehoe, Patrick J., 1996. "Optimality of the Friedman rule in economies with distorting taxes," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2-3), pages 203-223, April.
    3. Pavel Ciaian & Miroslava Rajcaniova & d’Artis Kancs, 2016. "The economics of BitCoin price formation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(19), pages 1799-1815, April.
    4. Wilko Bolt & Maarten R.C. Van Oordt, 2020. "On the Value of Virtual Currencies," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(4), pages 835-862, June.
    5. Wilko Bolt & Maarten R.C. Van Oordt, 2020. "On the Value of Virtual Currencies," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(4), pages 835-862, June.
    6. Fernández-Villaverde, Jesús & Sanches, Daniel, 2019. "Can currency competition work?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 1-15.
    7. Nicolas Houy, 2014. "The economics of Bitcoin transaction fees," Working Papers halshs-00951358, HAL.
    8. Svensson, Lars E. O., 1985. "Currency prices, terms of trade, and interest rates: A general equilibrium asset-pricing cash-in-advance approach," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1-2), pages 17-41, February.
    9. Joshua R. Hendrickson & Thomas L. Hogan & William J. Luther, 2016. "The Political Economy Of Bitcoin," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(2), pages 925-939, April.
    10. Jonathan Chiu & Tsz-Nga Wong, 2015. "On the Essentiality of E-Money," Staff Working Papers 15-43, Bank of Canada.
    11. Guidotti, Pablo E, 1993. "Currency Substitution and Financial Innovation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 25(1), pages 109-124, February.
    12. S. Rao Aiyagari & R. Anton Braun & Zvi Eckstein, 1998. "Transaction Services, Inflation, and Welfare," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1274-1301, December.
    13. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1982. "Interest rates and currency prices in a two-country world," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 335-359.
    14. Thomas F. Cooley & Gary D. Hansen, 1991. "The welfare costs of moderate inflations," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 483-518.
    15. Hendrickson, Joshua R. & Luther, William J., 2017. "Banning bitcoin," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 188-195.
    16. Guidotti, Pablo E. & Vegh, Carlos A., 1993. "Currency substitution and the optimal inflation tax," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 65-70.
    17. Lucas, Robert Jr. & Stokey, Nancy L., 1983. "Optimal fiscal and monetary policy in an economy without capital," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 55-93.
    18. Gillman, Max, 1993. "The welfare cost of inflation in a cash-in-advance economy with costly credit," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 97-115, February.
    19. Lucas, Robert E, Jr & Stokey, Nancy L, 1987. "Money and Interest in a Cash-in-Advance Economy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 55(3), pages 491-513, May.
    20. Barrdear, John & Kumhof, Michael, 2016. "The macroeconomics of central bank issued digital currencies," Bank of England working papers 605, Bank of England.
    21. Atkinson, A. B. & Stiglitz, J. E., 1976. "The design of tax structure: Direct versus indirect taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1-2), pages 55-75.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Monetary theory reversed: Virtual currency issuance and miners’ remuneration
      by Christian Zimmermann in NEP-DGE blog on 2018-03-14 09:51:01

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Julián A. Parra & Carlos Arango & Joaquín Bernal & José E. Gómez & Javier Gómez & Carlos León & Clara Machado & Daniel Osorio & Daniel Rojas & Nicolás Suárez & Eduardo Yanquen, 2019. "Criptoactivos: análisis y revisión de literatura," Revista ESPE - Ensayos sobre Política Económica, Banco de la Republica de Colombia, issue 92, pages 1-37, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marchiori, Luca, 2021. "Monetary theory reversed: Virtual currency issuance and the inflation tax," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    2. Heer, Burkhard, 2003. "Welfare costs of inflation in a dynamic economy with search unemployment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 255-272, November.
    3. Koreshkova, Tatyana A., 2006. "A quantitative analysis of inflation as a tax on the underground economy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 773-796, May.
    4. Rodrigo Suescún M., 1995. "Growth, Welfare Costs and Aggregate Fluctuations in Economies with Monetary Taxation," Borradores de Economia 036, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    5. Albanesi, Stefania, 2007. "Inflation and inequality," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 1088-1114, May.
    6. Vasilev, Aleksandar, 2022. "A business-cycle model with cash- and credit goods and a modified cash-in-advance feature: lessons for Bulgaria (1999-2020)," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 26(1 (forthc), pages 1-13.
    7. Gillman Max, 2020. "The welfare cost of inflation with banking time," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 1-20, January.
    8. Hromcová, Jana, 2008. "Learning-or-doing in a cash-in-advance economy with costly credit," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(9), pages 2826-2853, September.
    9. Wu, Yangru & Zhang, Junxi, 2000. "Monopolistic competition, increasing returns to scale, and the welfare costs of inflation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 417-440, October.
    10. Hromcova, Jana, 2003. "Money and growth in a cash-in-advance economy with costly credit," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 1113-1136, December.
    11. Lacker, Jeffrey M. & Schreft, Stacey L., 1996. "Money and credit as means of payment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 3-23, August.
    12. Anil Savio Kavuri & Alistair Milne, 2019. "FinTech and the future of financial services: What are the research gaps?," CAMA Working Papers 2019-18, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    13. English, William B., 1999. "Inflation and financial sector size," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 379-400, December.
    14. Lu, Chia-Hui & Chen, Been-Lon & Hsu, Mei, 2011. "The dynamic welfare cost of seignorage tax and consumption tax in a neoclassical growth model with a cash-in-advance constraint," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 247-258, June.
    15. Michael Frenkel & Gil Mehrez, 1997. "The Misallocation of Resources of Anticipated Inflation," Macroeconomics 9706003, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Max Gillman & Michal Kejak, 2005. "Inflation and Balanced-Path Growth with Alternative Payment Mechanisms," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(500), pages 247-270, January.
    17. Ben Fung & Hanna Halaburda, 2016. "Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Framework for Assessing Why and How," Discussion Papers 16-22, Bank of Canada.
    18. Agur, Itai & Ari, Anil & Dell’Ariccia, Giovanni, 2022. "Designing central bank digital currencies," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 62-79.
    19. Davoodalhosseini, Seyed Mohammadreza, 2022. "Central bank digital currency and monetary policy," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    20. Gillman M. & Siklos & P.L.Silver & J.L., 1996. "Money Velocity with Costly Credit," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 515, The University of Melbourne.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cash-in-advance; virtual currency; fiat money; money supply;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E41 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Demand for Money
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E51 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Money Supply; Credit; Money Multipliers

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bcl:bclwop:bclwp115. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bclgvlu.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.