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Bitcoin: Bubble or Brave New World?

Digital currencies are booming, but what are the implications for the future of money?

In March you could buy a Bitcoin, one of a number of ‘cryptocurrencies’, for about US$1,200. Since then its value has increased more than tenfold to over US$15,000. So why the excitement? Is it yet another irrational speculative bubble driven by what John Maynard Keynes used to call ‘animal spirits’? Or is the excitement really about the de-centralised technology that underpins Bitcoin? Some argue that this technology, known as blockchain, is as revolutionary as the internet and will change how we bank, work, and live. On Newshour Extra this week, Owen Bennett Jones and his guest discuss whether Bitcoin and blockchain are leading us to a brave new world or towards another financial crash.

Available now

50 minutes

Last on

Sat 9 Dec 2017 12:06GMT

Contributors:

Frances Coppola Former banker and financial journalist

Oliver von Landsberg Founder and CEO of BitcoinBro, a Cryptocurrency Brokerage startup

Catherine Mulligan Co-Director of the Imperial College Centre for Cryptocurrency 

Jordan Pearson Cryptocurrency reporter with Motherboard in Toronto

Also featuring:
David Clarke Positive Money think tank

Charlie Shrem Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency entrepreneur

Broadcasts

  • Fri 8 Dec 2017 00:06GMT
  • Fri 8 Dec 2017 09:06GMT
  • Fri 8 Dec 2017 18:06GMT
  • Fri 8 Dec 2017 23:06GMT
  • Sat 9 Dec 2017 04:06GMT
  • Sat 9 Dec 2017 12:06GMT

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