Descriptive information plays an important role in the popularity of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. This statement was made by Nobel Laureate in Economics Robert Shiller in an interview with the official portal of Yale University.
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According to him, it was the mysterious background to the creation of bitcoin that contributed to the rise in its price to historical heights of $20,000 in 2017.
He explained that bitcoin was a dream in the eyes of a computer scientist. We don’t even know the identity of that person. Allegedly, his name was Satoshi Nakamoto, but no evidence was found. We don’t even know if he exists. There is an element of mystery in this plot, and this is important.
In his opinion, partly the success of the first cryptocurrency is also associated with the ideas of anarchism and the unreliability of the state, which its founder disseminated. Based on this, a story developed that young people created a financial institution beyond the reach of the state. This is a powerful plot. It seems to people as exciting as any viral video.
However, the economist noted that this is not a confirmation of the correctness of the key concepts of bitcoin.
Robert Shiller analyzed these and other informational and ideological attitudes in more detail in his new book about narrative economics and how viral stories cause major economic events.
Recall that Shiller is one of the active critics of cryptocurrencies. He previously stated that digital assets could be another failure in the conversion of money, and also called Bitcoin a “psychological experiment.”
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However, if you ignore the economic aspect, Bitcoin, according to him, is still an “extraordinary social phenomenon.”