Editor's Note: Below is a brief excerpt from today's Early Look written by Demography Sector Head Neil Howe. Click here to learn more about the Early Look.
Bitcoin doesn’t fit anywhere in the currency spectrum. Throughout history, across the full range of market economies at every stage of development, all currencies have been backed either by some tangible asset (as in a barter system evolving into the gold standard) or by regulatory decree (as in certificates of debt, usually public debts, evolving into a “fiat” currency). Bitcoin checks neither box.
