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The Economics of Private Digital Currency

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  • Dwyer, Gerald P

Abstract

Recent innovations have made it feasible to transfer private digital currency without the intervention of an institution. A digital currency must prevent users from spending their balances more than once, which is easier said than done with purely digital currencies. Current digital currencies such as Bitcoin use peer-to-peer networks and open-source software to stop double spending and create finality of transactions. This paper explains how the use of these technologies and limitation of the quantity produced can create an equilibrium in which a digital currency has a positive value. This paper also summarizes the rise of 24/7 trading on computerized markets in Bitcoin in which there are no brokers or other agents, a remarkable innovation in financial markets. I conclude that exchanges of foreign currency may be the obvious way in which use of digital currencies can become widespread and that Bitcoin is likely to limit governments’ revenue from inflation.

Suggested Citation

  • Dwyer, Gerald P, 2014. "The Economics of Private Digital Currency," MPRA Paper 55824, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:55824
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Berentsen, Aleksander, 2006. "On the private provision of fiat currency," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(7), pages 1683-1698, October.
    2. Marimon, Ramon & Nicolini, Juan Pablo & Teles, Pedro, 2012. "Money is an experience good: Competition and trust in the private provision of money," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(8), pages 815-825.
    3. Klein, Benjamin, 1974. "The Competitive Supply of Money," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 6(4), pages 423-453, November.
    4. Harold Demsetz, 1968. "The Cost of Transacting," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 82(1), pages 33-53.
    5. William J. Luther, 2013. "Friedman Versus Hayek on Private Outside Monies: New Evidence for the Debate," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 127-135, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Neil Gandal & Hanna Halaburda, 2014. "Competition in the Cryptocurrency Market," Staff Working Papers 14-33, Bank of Canada.
    2. Bildirici, Melike E. & Sonustun, Bahri, 2021. "Chaotic behavior in gold, silver, copper and bitcoin prices," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Neil Gandal & Hanna Halaburda, 2016. "Can We Predict the Winner in a Market with Network Effects? Competition in Cryptocurrency Market," Games, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-21, July.
    4. Ioanna Roussou & Emmanouil Stiakakis & Angelo Sifaleras, 2019. "An empirical study on the commercial adoption of digital currencies," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 223-259, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    digital currency; private currency; bitcoin; litecoin;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E4 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates
    • 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

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