Could Scotland’s currency be bitcoin?

[Coinbuddy]

A central question in the Scottish independence campaign has centered on currency. The Bank of England has said repeatedly that an independent Scotland can not use the pound sterling, except for an 18-month emergency period following a yes vote.
No one has sorted out what currency Scotland would use after that period, but there’s been some speculation that digital currency bitcoin might be a good fit.
That idea may seem far-fetched, but it has been posited in at least one high-profile financial forum by the assistant governor of Australia’s central bank and in a publication by a British think tank.
The country does have some experience in experimenting with currencies. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Scotland tested out private currencies in an unregulated banking system before ceding control to the Bank of England.
Under this free banking system, Scotland’s three largest private banks—the Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland and the British Linen Bank— issued competing private currencies after the Bank of Scotland monopoly on note issues ended. These private notes were backed by banks’  gold reserves, while their supply was largely left up to market forces.
Adopting a cryptocurrency like bitcoin would similarly be a return to private money and could offer some benefits for Scotland, such as creating a flexible flow of private capital at relatively low cost, says Pete Rizzo, US editor for Coindesk, a digital currency news site.
But, he warns, the risks would outweigh those rewards. A central bank would have little to no control over setting monetary policy under bitcoin, since the digital currency’s supply is dictated by market forces. Instead of relying on a central bank to protect its value, bitcoin uses high-powered supercomputers and sophisticated cryptography at several unknown locations around the world.
A more plausible solution, Rizzo explains, would be for Scotland to use the underlying technology behind bitcoin to suit its needs and possibly create its own, more flexible digital currency. The move would be almost as radical as the one to break up the UK’s 307-year-old union.

"Source "http://qz.com/267137/could-scotlands-currency-be-bitcoin/"

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[oceans]

I guess it could be possible for them to do so but I feel they would have to take a lot of things into consideration before they even decided to use bitcoin as their currency. As it stands now not many people know about bitcoin and I would imagine not even half of Scotland's population knows much about bitcoin. For it to be a main currency for a Country as well it would have to be a lot safer than what it is now I feel.

[johncarpe64]

No it would not be possible. The economy of scottland is in the trillions of dollars, while the market cap of bitcoin is under 10 billion dollars. This is simply not feasible.

Also if scottland were to use bitcoin as a currency then the price of bitcoin would go up so quickly that there would be too great of incentives to attack the network verses the costs to attack the network that bitcoin would be destined to fail. 

[yatsey87]

IT would be a nice idea but it's not going to happen. Maybe a cryptocurrency will become the defact currency of a smaller nation but Scotland is too large to experiment with bitcoin at this moment in time. Besides, they'll either just keep the pound, create their own or join the euro.

[EFFV]

Even if they created their own fork or clone of Bitcoin, it would be an immense revolution away from the centralization and monopoly of fiat money.
Realistically, however, I do not see this happening.

-EFFV

[Verse]

No it would not be possible. The economy of scottland is in the trillions of dollars, while the market cap of bitcoin is under 10 billion dollars. This is simply not feasible.

Also if scottland were to use bitcoin as a currency then the price of bitcoin would go up so quickly that there would be too great of incentives to attack the network verses the costs to attack the network that bitcoin would be destined to fail. 

I love this argument.

Additionally why would Scotland's government accept Bitcoin when they have free reign to keep printing fiat and inflate the money supply to pay off their debts? Governments do not give up power. Bitcoin is the people's currency.

[TopherB]

No it would not be possible. The economy of scottland is in the trillions of dollars, while the market cap of bitcoin is under 10 billion dollars. This is simply not feasible.

Also if scottland were to use bitcoin as a currency then the price of bitcoin would go up so quickly that there would be too great of incentives to attack the network verses the costs to attack the network that bitcoin would be destined to fail. 

The GDP of Scotland is just under a $250 billion. Still a large number in terms of BTC capitalization. But a bigger problem in my mind is what do the rural areas with no internet (and often no mobile service either) do for currency in a country with no physical coin? And are all businesses regardless of size and model going to be required to have internet and equipment to be in business? Will citizens be required to have smartphones to buy groceries and a computer to pay the heating bill?

[countryfree]

No, an electronic currency doesn't meet the needs of the global population. Far from it.

I don't like credit cards, and I like BTC but I wouldn't want to use it in my daily life, to pay for a newspaper, or a restaurant. Cash remains the best option for that.

Besides, BTC is still too shaky for such widespread use.

[ticoti]

absolutely not
not everyone has access and knowledge to a digital payment method
besides, they want to keep with pounds which is a strong currency

[tilray]

Yes take a look at http://cryptoconspiracy.com/bitcoin-highly-likely-to-become-scotlands-official-currency/

[TheButterZone]

LOL. They won't even conduct a crypto-verifiable election (shots of hand counts in the media), and we think their currency will be BTC? They're in the fucking stone ages still. Might as well have coins of Yap for currency under the new regime, if the bribed election officials end up declaring Scotland independent.

[btbrae]

A lot of those voting NO are women and elderly. These are the two groups that Bitcoin will find it hardest to reach. Don't expect inroads anytime soon either.

[murraypaul]

No, there is zero chance of that happening.

[johncarpe64]

No it would not be possible. The economy of scottland is in the trillions of dollars, while the market cap of bitcoin is under 10 billion dollars. This is simply not feasible.

Also if scottland were to use bitcoin as a currency then the price of bitcoin would go up so quickly that there would be too great of incentives to attack the network verses the costs to attack the network that bitcoin would be destined to fail.  

I love this argument.

Additionally why would Scotland's government accept Bitcoin when they have free reign to keep printing fiat and inflate the money supply to pay off their debts? Governments do not give up power. Bitcoin is the people's currency.

Governments actually like to try to keep inflation as low as possible. If a country has too high of inflation then the standard of living of it's citizens would decline and if it were to stay like that for long enough the citizens would leave and try to go somewhere with better economic opportunities.

[Verse]

Governments actually like to try to keep inflation as low as possible. If a country has too high of inflation then the standard of living of it's citizens would decline and if it were to stay like that for long enough the citizens would leave and try to go somewhere with better economic opportunities.

I do not disagree. However most governments run on a cycle of debt, issuing bonds and repaying those loans through taxes. Bond yields are paid in the same fiat they are bought with. If inflation goes up, the real value of those yields and therefore those payments decreases. So inflation allows a government to decrease the burden of their payments.

I'm suggesting there's a conflict of interest, not a conspiracy. I understand that governments do not regularly cause rapid inflation in order to pay off debts, but some have. Germany after WWI is a prime example.

[johncarpe64]

Governments actually like to try to keep inflation as low as possible. If a country has too high of inflation then the standard of living of it's citizens would decline and if it were to stay like that for long enough the citizens would leave and try to go somewhere with better economic opportunities.

I do not disagree. However most governments run on a cycle of debt, issuing bonds and repaying those loans through taxes. Bond yields are paid in the same fiat they are bought with. If inflation goes up, the real value of those yields and therefore those payments decreases. So inflation allows a government to decrease the burden of their payments.

I'm suggesting there's a conflict of interest, not a conspiracy. I understand that governments do not regularly cause rapid inflation in order to pay off debts, but some have. Germany after WWI is a prime example.

What governments actually try to do it to grow their economy so their tax revenue goes up so they can repay the debt with a smaller share of total tax revenue. High inflation will generally hamper economic growth.

As I said above if inflation is too high then people will emigrate to places where inflation is lower and economic opportunities are more. If people are leaving a country because of high inflation then the country will have lower tax revenue which means they will have to use more resources as a percentage of total tax revenue to repay their debt

[familycoin]

I don't think so ,btc will not be the Scotland’s currency!

[bitc0in]

Only fantasies & nothing else.In many under developing countries bitcoin is being considered illegal there is no point one countries currency be completely illegal to others.

[virtfund]

They will almost certainly go with the euro or create their own currency. There are so many prohibitive reasons not to.

[Hunyadi]

It is almost certain that Scotland will stay in the UK. So, this speculation is pointless