March 21, 2023

Robert Schiller: Satoshi Nakamoto's secret is behind the viral popularity of bitcoin

Descriptive information plays an important role in the popularity of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Such a statement made Nobel Laureate in Economics Robert Schiller in an interview with Yale University's official portal.

According to Schiller, it was the mysterious background to the creation of bitcoin that contributed to the rise in its price to historical heights of $ 20,000 in 2017.

“Bitcoin was a dream in the eyes of a scientist fromareas of computer science. We do not even know the identity of this person. Allegedly, his name was Satoshi Nakamoto, but no evidence was found. We don’t even know if it exists. There is an element of mystery in this plot, and this is important. ” - explained Schiller.

In his opinion, partly the success of the first cryptocurrency is also associated with the ideas of anarchism and the unreliability of the state, which its founder spread.

“Based on this, a story has developed thatyoung people set up a financial institution beyond the reach of the state. This is a powerful plot. It seems to people as exciting as any viral video. ” - said the economist, adding, however, that this is not a confirmation of the correctness of the key concepts of bitcoin.

Robert Schiller analyzed these and other informational and ideological attitudes in more detail in the new book “Narrative economics: How virus stories cause major economic events”.

Recall Schiller is one of the activeCryptocurrency critics. He previously stated that digital assets could be another failure in the conversion of money, and also called Bitcoin a “psychological experiment.”

However, if you ignore the economic aspect, Bitcoin, according to him, is still an “extraordinary social phenomenon.”