Bitcoin: Bubble or Brave New World?
Digital currencies are booming, but what are the implications for the future of money?
In March you could buy a Bitcoin, one of a number of ‘cryptocurrencies’, for about US$1,200. Since then its value has increased more than tenfold to over US$15,000. So why the excitement? Is it yet another irrational speculative bubble driven by what John Maynard Keynes used to call ‘animal spirits’? Or is the excitement really about the de-centralised technology that underpins Bitcoin? Some argue that this technology, known as blockchain, is as revolutionary as the internet and will change how we bank, work, and live. On Newshour Extra this week, Owen Bennett Jones and his guest discuss whether Bitcoin and blockchain are leading us to a brave new world or towards another financial crash.
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Contributors:
Oliver von Landsberg Founder and CEO of BitcoinBro, a Cryptocurrency Brokerage startup
Catherine Mulligan Co-Director of the Imperial College Centre for CryptocurrencyÂ
Jordan Pearson Cryptocurrency reporter with Motherboard in Toronto
Also featuring:
David Clarke Positive Money think tank
Charlie Shrem Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency entrepreneur
Broadcasts
- Fri 8 Dec 2017 00:06GMTÂ鶹ԼÅÄ World Service Online, UK DAB/Freeview, Europe and the Middle East, Australasia & Americas and the Caribbean only
- Fri 8 Dec 2017 09:06GMTÂ鶹ԼÅÄ World Service except News Internet
- Fri 8 Dec 2017 18:06GMTÂ鶹ԼÅÄ World Service Australasia
- Fri 8 Dec 2017 23:06GMTÂ鶹ԼÅÄ World Service East and Southern Africa, West and Central Africa, South Asia & East Asia only
- Sat 9 Dec 2017 04:06GMTÂ鶹ԼÅÄ World Service except Australasia & News Internet
- Sat 9 Dec 2017 12:06GMTÂ鶹ԼÅÄ World Service except Americas and the Caribbean, East and Southern Africa, News Internet & West and Central Africa
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The Real Story
Global experts and decision makers discuss, debate and analyse a key news story.
