Money-as-a-Service: Crypto Musings with Economist Jeffrey Tucker

From the "Regression Theorem" of money to a breakdown of "gold 2.0," the first person to send Amanda some Bitcoin -- Jeffrey Tucker -- banters about the fascinating shift from money-as-a-good to money-as-a-service.

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[MarcDeMesel]

Jeffrey said it: Thank you so much Amanda for all you've given to the crypto community. It's people like you that create an industry.

[davidstreeter]

I want to repeat Jeff's closing remarks: You've learned so much and you've done so much for this community. Thanks Amanda!

[henryi]

Wow ! This was an incredible video ! So much learning and new insights.Thank you Jeffrey Tucker, Amanda, and Daily Decrypt. :D

[omara]

Thanks for the videos Amanda ! I am 21, and I'm trying to inform myself as much as I can with your videos. Your blogs are so simple but so informative!

[ronyasmith]

Awesome interview! Love watching your dailies.

[davematherly]

shit, I watched your vid and scrolled down to find 5 DASH addy hashes already there.
Jeff Tucker is my fave, and to see two of my faves together at one sitting gives me the warm fuzzies.
Much love to you both

[rahnjaimes]

Hi Amanda! You are a great personality in the crypto world, and you always get right to the point! I just subscribed. We need more Amanda!

[BitcoinsAndBeer]

Very thought provoking conversation. Thank You

[yerbrain]

We are all very lucky to have both Amanda AND Jeffrey in our world. A bulwark duo against the ever tyrannical central planners. Keep up the excellent work...it IS appreciated very much.

[lou]

A most excellent episode Amanada, informative and interesting

[Achooification]

Well this was a pleasant surprise. Thanks for this.

[jensg]

I'm not generation YouTube and not commenting around usually. But in this case: I have to admit, that I watch almost every episode of The Daily Decrypt. It's this very interesting and even attractive young lady who tells me all that stunning crypto stuff. Please go ahead. Thank you, best, Jerry

[LogicalCircumflex]

Who insults Amanda? She's adorable and making complex material relevant to a whole new crowd - brilliant! Keep going!

[novafield]

pure awesomeness! thanks for such a wonderful smart and educational show! P.s. a lil sad that daily decrypt closed. dash detailed is as great but it's only about dash ;)

[LeeGordonSeebach]

Awesome, Amanda and Jeffrey, a great guest and interview, IMO. Thanks! BTW, I use DASH but keep the DASH in your wallet in support of your great efforts...I'd just end up sending it back to you.

[Gmgl]

Great video Amanda I have a question Jeffrey talks about how important scarcity is, bitcoin being 21 million cap what is Ethereum? or if anyone else can tell me thanks.

[davincij]

I like Jeffery Tucker thanks for having him on. So how much Ethereum do you have? I dumped all me ETH at 0.03 looking to rebuy soon.

[TheStone]

Fascinating conversation, thanks to you and your guest Mr. Tucker.

I have a couple issues with the conversation around scarcity and the (for me) overly facile analogy to gold in terms of demonstrating Bitcoin's underlying value proposition. I think we have to be careful of where we start to conflate the analogy with the thing analogized. A metaphor, allegory, or analogy (e.g. 'mining' in bitcoin) can help elucidate, as it connects aspects of something new and unfamiliar with aspects of something known and familiar. But even an excellent analogy will break down if stretched too far.

So, yes, there is a neat parallel based on this logical sequence: bitcoin value rises ==> more resources get thrown at mining it ==> it gets harder (more resource-intensive and costly) to mine. Throw in halvings and an ultimate cap, and there you have it - gold *like* scarcity. But this logical sequence begins from the premise of bitcoin's value rising. So you have to ask, what drives that? Typical easy answer is, well, demand. But there again, what drives that? And now we enter the murky zone, where the analogy to gold starts to get increasingly tenuous.

In the case of gold, there is demand for actual physical quantities, for industrial and aesthetic uses. If I need 4 tons of gold to decorate my cathedral, then I need 4 tons of gold. I cannot 'subdivide' one ton of gold into 4 parts of a quarter ton each and thereby achieve what I wanted to with 4 tons. And it doesn't matter if, say one month from now, the market-value of my one ton has grown to 4x my purchase price. Bitcoin, however, is effortlessly subdivisable, and one $400 bitcoin can do just as well as 4 BTC worth $100 each, for any of its intended uses.

And then there is the issue of competing Blockchains. So yes, Bitcoin has dealt internally with the 'reproduceability problem' as Mr. Tucker has articulated so nicely. But, to the dismay of bitcoin-maximalists, it cannot control its crypto-progeny. It prevails, for now, simply due to size, notoriety, and network effect, but whether that state of affairs persists long-term remains to be seen. It wasn't long before the creator of Litecoin was throwing around his own ambitious analogy, of being 'the silver to bitcoin's gold'. But you see where this leads, right? Say I just love Dash, so why not call it 'the platinum to Bitcoin's gold and Litecoin's silver' etc etc, and pretty soon any coin whatever can magically lay claim to some precious metal or gemstone. This shows the absurd outcome of taking the analogy too far.

I think the real value-proposition of any of the competing blockchains depends on something enormously complex, including a number of utterly non-rational factors which collectively make up the origin of all value: psychological consensus. Certainly technical excellence, effective ongoing development and governance strategies also play a major role. But what I'm saying is, we are working at the outer limits of the known here, where many things are utterly unprecedented. Therefore, analogies to old things will only take us so far. Beyond that, they mislead.

[hoslo]

JT is an engaging speaker, Amanda. His enthusiasm is only exceeded by your own !
Is that PsyOp that you chose a mentor in defense ?
I am struggling with the separation from reality. The apparent disconnect where the ruber meets the road. Barter is quite real... Yes, I will wash those dishes in exchange for a meal ! I'm sure it happens every day.
Yes, I will exchange my Steiner binoculars for the pair of tires so my Land Rover is not stuck beyond that mountain...
Crypto is dependent upon the grid. Au is not.
Before bank notes were molested by banksters, morphing into fiat, they were warehouse receipts for Au and portable as the means of the day allowed. Some review of the Knights Templar might be good...
Thanks for bringing JT to the Daily Decrypt ! I shall review his presentation again. rc

[petersuniverse]

A casual stroll down the breakfast cereal aisle in any USA supermarket will answer the question of whether individuals will want ONE coin over many different varieties of crypto-currency :) I am a Dash "virgin" be gentle, how do get started? :)