Is Bitcoin More Than a Bubble? | IQ2US Debate at Adam Smith Society’s 2018 National Meeting

Is Bitcoin here to stay, or is it a bubble waiting to pop? Less than a decade old, Bitcoin is worth billions. The cryptocurrency promises to revolutionize global finance by placing control of currency in the hands of users, not nations, and make financial exchanges more transparent, efficient, and democratic. And it seems to be taking hold: Earlier this year both the Cboe and CME debuted Bitcoin futures. But is Bitcoin really a safe bet? Proponents say the hype around the cryptocurrency is warranted, and previous critics – including executives at JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs – are increasingly jumping on the Bitcoin (block)train. On the other hand, skeptics suggest this highly volatile digital currency offers a platform for illicit activity, including money laundering and trafficking of humans and drugs, free from government oversight and regulation. And, they argue, Bitcoin has no intrinsic value – the price is based on market enthusiasm rather than actual utility.

At our 2018 National Meeting in New York City, Patrick Byrne and Tim Draper (for) debated Gillian Tett and Eric Posner (against) on the motion: "bitcoin is more than a bubble and here to stay." Hosted by John Donvan and presented in partnership with Intelligence Squared U.S.

[Greenman]

The first mover advantage is very important in this case and we will see this year. All of the alt-coins will ultimately feed back into bitcoins market cap as they anchor and people discover that trust is paramount.

[NavaidSyed]

Gold is a commodity. It's supply and demand can be artficially controlled. Not th case with Bitcoin.

[NavaidSyed]

With bitcoin you can never have all the eggs in one basket because unlike government bitcoin is not a monopoly.

[Greenman]

Bitcoin is not controlled by the miners... it’s controlled by the nodes, miners and developers and the community. Look up bitcoin UASF

[MarkKrebs]

I'm furious, after so many good debates, to see Jon Donvan kowtow to Draper, despite so many flat out lies and bullying. Poorly moderated, and held in the spell of the charismatic attention grabber. The actual arguments are worth discussion too, but the point here is the loss of process control.

[Greenman]

Bitcoin lightening network is coming fast! It will then be able to process millions of transactions per second.