Why Bitcoin Now: Michael Casey and Niall Ferguson on How Bitcoin Fits in the History of Money - Ep.181

Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and the author of numerous books including The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World and most recently, the Square and the Tower: Networks and Power from the Freemasons to Facebook, and Michael Casey, chief content officer at CoinDesk and coauthor of two books on crypto, The Age of Cryptocurrency and The Truth Machine, discuss the history of money and the macro environment for Bitcoin. We cover:

how they became involved in crypto

historically, what has made things money, or how people have decided that something is money

the difficulty of managing fiat currency

modern monetary theory and the role of the state in the financial system

Satoshi’s message in BTC’s genesis block and what that indicates about Satoshi's intentions with Bitcoin 

whether a more transparent, blockchain-based financial system could eventually lead to a new financial order

how Bitcoin behaves like an option on digital gold, and when it will behave like digital gold

whether Bitcoin is simply a reversion to previous forms of money that weren’t controlled by the state

how crypto/blockchain and fintech innovation from startups and the Chinese government will affect the USD

how a hypothetical war between the US and China would affect the dollar's dominance

how China's DCEP could disintermediate banks 

how Bitcoin fits into all of the different macro conditions facing the global economy

whether Libra is going to be the initial gateway getting people into our digital currency world

how well the recovery from coronavirus will go, and how it will affect the development of the crypto space in the near-term

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Episode links: 

Niall Ferguson: http://www.niallferguson.com

The Ascent of Money: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/302900/the-ascent-of-money-by-niall-ferguson/

Michael Casey: https://www.michaeljcasey.com

Money Reimagined: https://www.coindesk.com/tag/money-reimagined

The Age of Cryptocurrency: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250081551

The first episode in the Why Bitcoin Now series: Mike Novogratz and Raoul Pal on 'the Single Greatest Brand' ofo the Last 10 Years:  https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-bitcoin-now-mike-novogratz-and-raoul-pal-on-the-single-greatest-brand-of-the-last-10-years/

How Niall got into Bitcoin:

http://www.niallferguson.com/journalism/finance-economics/bitcoin-may-go-pop-but-its-revolution-will-go-on

Niall and Michael at Consensus: https://www.coindesk.com/disruption-money-and-a-world-of-change-feat-niall-ferguson

Unchained interview with Chamath Palihapitiya, who believes Bitcoin is a hedge on everything blowing up: https://unchainedpodcast.com/chamath-palihapitiya-why-bitcoin-will-be-the-category-winner/

Carlota Perez at CoinDesk's Consensus: https://www.coindesk.com/video/carlota-perez-on-blockchains-and-technological-revolutions

Unchained interview about the DCEP: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-china-aims-to-replace-cash-with-the-digital-yuan/

Unchained interview with Christopher Giancarlo about a digital dollar: https://unchainedpodcast.com/christopher-giancarlo-why-the-us-needs-to-have-a-digital-dollar/

Unconfirmed episode with Michael about Libra: https://unchainedpodcast.com/why-it-would-be-good-if-libra-rivaled-the-us-dollar/

Unchained episode with a co-creator of Libra: https://unchainedpodcast.com/a-libra-co-creator-on-how-facebook-will-make-money-from-calibra/

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