2013-06-30 Forbes: Dethroning The Dollar: The Yuan, The Bitcoin, And Other 'Usur

[cr1776]

Some excerpts:

...
What we are left with is this: well within the next ten years and probably within five, America’s creditors – mainly China but also Japan, Russia, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Korea – will have to bite the bullet and move to a new currency system. It will be as big a moment as the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944. The betting is that the dollar will be replaced by a basket of currencies. The dollar will retain a role but a much shrunken one. It will be a similar story for that other perpetual sick man of the currency markets, the British pound.
...

So what comes next? Some people have been pushing the bitcoin. This can be summarily dismissed. As Paul Krugman [a hack, and Forbes quotes him as a source?  Ha] has pointed, demand for the bitcoin comes almost entirely from speculators rather than commercial users, which does not bode well for the stability of any bitcoin-based system. There is also the fact that no serious government has any interest in curtailing its currency-issuing monopoly to accommodate this techie’s pipedream.
...

[aigeezer]

Forbes makes its basket case.        

Interestingly, they seem to accept that it's over for the dollar. I didn't think they'd give up on that one so easily.

Just noticed link is missing in OP. It's http://www.forbes.com/sites/eamonnfingleton/2013/06/30/dethroning-the-dollar-the-yuan-the-bitcoin-and-other-usurpers/

[Wekkel]

Of course Bitcoin won't be the new currency of choice. Politicians won't choose Bitcoins as new world currency. Only the people themselves can decide so.

[solex]

This is significant, because even though the article quickly dismisses Bitcoin, it is mentioned along with the Chinese yuan. Consider how amazing it is that a newly invented currency, 5 years old, is theoretically comparable with the influence of one which represents a 5,000 year old civilization with over a billion people.

A further point is that reserve currencies are never chosen like some pathetic "basket of currencies" which economists might dream about. Reserve currencies force themselves onto the world stage by sheer economic power from sound fundamentals and global reach. Bitcoin embodies these principles.

Plus, of course, any objection by Krugman is not worth a piece of used toilet paper.

[vokain]

This is significant, because even though the article quickly dismisses Bitcoin, it is mentioned along with the Chinese yuan. Consider how amazing it is that a newly invented currency, 5 years old, is theoretically comparable with the influence of one which represents a 5,000 year old civilization with over a billion people.

A further point is that reserve currencies are never chosen like some pathetic "basket of currencies" which economists might dream about. Reserve currencies force themselves onto the world stage by sheer economic power from sound fundamentals and global reach. Bitcoin embodies these principles.

Plus, of course, any objection by Krugman is not worth a piece of used toilet paper.

Krugman is my contrarian indicator

[ErisDiscordia]

Krugman is my contrarian indicator

+1 <3 

[kjlimo]

This is significant, because even though the article quickly dismisses Bitcoin, it is mentioned along with the Chinese yuan. Consider how amazing it is that a newly invented currency, 5 years old, is theoretically comparable with the influence of one which represents a 5,000 year old civilization with over a billion people.

A further point is that reserve currencies are never chosen like some pathetic "basket of currencies" which economists might dream about. Reserve currencies force themselves onto the world stage by sheer economic power from sound fundamentals and global reach. Bitcoin embodies these principles.

Plus, of course, any objection by Krugman is not worth a piece of used toilet paper.

Let's not forget the currency hasn't been there for 5,000 years... maybe 100-500?

[solex]

Let's not forget the currency hasn't been there for 5,000 years... maybe 100-500?

The yuan dates from about 1910, so 100 years indeed. Prior to that the Chinese had many currencies but had a special fondness for the silver standard. The general point is that even their latest currency is not a serious contender for world reserve status.