Bitcoin has many of the characteristics of gold. We know what the cost of mining it is and just bits and there. The other thing is that the fixed quantities, how did we do it back then? I mean, obviously the Bank of England killed some sort of store of coins to stabilize the value of the pound of the dollar. How does that authority come into place? And it does not have to be government. It really doesn't.
When ARK CEO and CIO Cathie Wood was discussing Bitcoin and Digital Assets in general with her mentor and famed economist Dr. Arthur Laffer, he told her that it reminded him of an era before the Federal Reserve existed. This idea spurred Cathie to invite Dr. Laffer on the FYI podcast to further discuss the history of money in general and what Bitcoin’s role in the history of money might be. Alongside Cathie and Art, we are also pleased to welcome Ophelia Snyder, the Co-Founder and President of 21.co, a Cryptocurrency Exchange Traded Product (ETP) provider. In the discussion, Cathie, Art and Ophelia discuss the original idea of centralized money, the economic booms and busts of the past, the transparency of digital assets and much more.
Key Points From This Episode:
- The United States early definition of a dollar
- The relatively novel concept of centralized money
- A world before the Federal Reserve (Fed) in 1913, and how the Fed changed money
- Economic booms and busts in history starting with The Great Depression
- How the real economy has changed in the US and globally
- What a new Gold-Standard in the world of Digital Assets look like
- Art argues for the necessity of a price rule
- Stable coins and some of their inherent challenges
- Bitcoin’s similarities to Gold
- The number of wallets that hold Bitcoin long term
- The potentially changing role of the SEC
- Why a more transparent and decentralized ecosystem may be beneficial
Please note that 21.co and ARK are unaffiliated entities.