In a statement that will be widely approved and vilified by opposing camps, Joseph Stiglitz said on Bloomberg TV that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin should be banned. His commentary is based on analysis saying that the market for Bitcoin is driven mostly by its potential to circumvent government agencies.
His rant continued, stating that the Bitcoin market will ‘go up, and then come down,’ leaving many investors injured, and therefore it should be banned, adding that it doesn’t serve any ‘socially useful function.’
Ban it all, Joe, ban it all
Apparently, Dr. Stiglitz may also desire to ban the famous FANG stocks (Facebook, Apple, Netflix, and Google), which, on the same day as the recent price decline for Bitcoin, faced far greater losses.
In fact, while Bitcoin lost around $3 bln in market cap, the FANG stocks lost $60 bln - twenty times as much. If consumer protection is the main goal, the FANG stocks are a far greater risk, and worthy of the ban.
Impossible?
In the final analysis, however, regardless of the opinions of economists, the very nature of Bitcoin may make it impossible to ban. Instead, governments must simply deal with the cryptocurrency, and regulate its trade in reasonable and rational ways. According to Kain Warwick, Founder of Havven:
"Thankfully it’s somewhat irrelevant whether anyone in particular thinks Bitcoin should be banned, because one of its strongest points is that it is, in practice, not able to be banned."