2013-07-07 SeekingAlpha (Morningstar) - Does the world need a bitcoin ETF?

[kiko]

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1536832-does-the-world-need-a-bitcoin-etf

A recent survey of leading economists by the IGM Forum showed an overwhelming consensus that the primary driver of bitcoin value is speculation on the asset's future acceptance as a currency. Today, the number of businesses that accept bitcoins as a form of payment is extremely limited, a state that is likely to persist in the face of bitcoins' volatility: In 2013, the price of a single bitcoin has ranged from $13 to more than $200, with extreme fluctuations regularly occurring over the course of minutes. Bitcoins are best conceptualized as a highly speculative commodity whose volatility is driven, in part, by price manipulation and its faulty infrastructure.

Link to the IGM poll: http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_8qRwhHaLc7b5Sp7

[marcus_of_augustus]

It's like a bootstrapping ... if enough people spend enough time speculating with bitcoin that it will become a currency then it will become a currency. Kind of defines how money becomes money also ... so economists are just getting a real world lesson on some stuff Mises did a while back that they have conveniently forgotten, imho.