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Cryptocurrencies: A Crash Course in Digital Monetary Economics

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  • Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde

    (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania)

Abstract

This paper reviews what cryptocurrencies are, and it frames them within the context of historical monetary experiences and contemporary monetary economics. The paper argues that, as pure duciary private money, cryptocurrencies are a bubble without a fundamental value and that they will not provide, in general, optimal amounts of money or deliver price stability. Nevertheless, cryptocurrencies can play a role in improving the current means of payments and in disciplining central banks into providing better government-run duciary monies.

Suggested Citation

  • Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde, 2018. "Cryptocurrencies: A Crash Course in Digital Monetary Economics," PIER Working Paper Archive 18-023, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, revised 03 Sep 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:pen:papers:18-023
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Alexis Derviz, 2019. "Coexistence of Physical and Crypto Assets in a Stochastic Endogenous Growth Model," Working Papers 2019/7, Czech National Bank.
    3. Hatice Karahan, 2021. "Assessing the future prospects for cryptocurrencies," International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy (2687-2293), Bussecon International Academy, vol. 3(1), pages 32-37, January.
    4. Max Fuchs, 2022. "CBDC as Competitor for Bank Deposits and Cryptocurrencies," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202210, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    5. Dong, Bingbing & Jiang, Lei & Liu, Jinyu & Zhu, Yifeng, 2022. "Liquidity in the cryptocurrency market and commonalities across anomalies," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Emanuele Borgonovo & Stefano Caselli & Alessandra Cillo & Donato Masciandaro & Giovanno Rabitti, 2018. "Cryptocurrencies, central bank digital cash, traditional money: does privacy matter?," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 1895, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    7. Levulytė, Laura & Šapkauskienė, Alfreda, 2021. "Cryptocurrency in context of fiat money functions," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 44-54.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Private money; currency competition; cryptocurrencies; monetary policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E40 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - General
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy

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