A controversial research paper argues that if Bitcoin prices continue to rise, it redistributes wealth away from the general population towards early Bitcoin holders. This makes the general population poorer. As a result, the logical reaction of those that don’t hold Bitcoin should be to “advocate for legislation against it, aiming to prevent Bitcoin prices from rising or to see Bitcoin disappear altogether.”
The paper is controversial for multiple reasons. It was authored by Ulrich Bindseil and Jürgen Schaaf, who are both employed by the European Central Bank (ECB). Mr Bindseil is the Director General Market Infrastructure and Payments. However, the paper represents the personal views of the authors, and notably, is not published on the ECB website.
They’re not concerned about Bitcoin being used for payments, because Nakomoto’s vision of trustless payments without intermediaries has not yet happened at scale. They note that Bitcoin investors themselves view the digital currency more like gold, so the focus is on the wealth effects.
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