The cryptocurrencies have gained enough followers for a few years. Each time the community that supports the use of digital currencies gets bigger and includes new members with great influence, such as the central banks of some countries or big companies. However, not everyone is convinced of the effectiveness of digital assets.
Among them is Robert Shiller, considered one of the 100 most influential economists in the world, winner of the Nobel Prize for his "empirical analysis of the prices of assets".
The current professor at Yale University is famous for warning about the stock market bubble in 2000, which at that time was known as a dot-com bubble. Then, in 2005 he did the same, this time with the housing sector, prophesying a real estate bubble.
Shiller believes that cryptocurrencies meet several of the characteristics that have presented the failed coin experiments throughout history.
One of the first attempts to change the established currency, occurred in 1827, when the store "Cincinnati Time" wanted to sell merchandise in units of hours of work, which he called "labor notes". But this idea failed, causing the store to close only 3 years later.
There was a similar idea in London, two years later, that sought to change silver and gold as a standard of value and instead place the time, giving more relevance to the work. This new "currency" was called "time money", but, like its predecessor, it failed.
But the currency that is most similar to cryptocurrencies is the one proposed by the economist John Pease Norton, during the decade of the 30 '. At that time, electricity was considered one of the most innovative and innovative elements of the moment (as we now consider the technology behind digital currencies); therefore, Pease tried to create a currency that was backed only by electricity. However, this experiment did not prosper either.
"Each of these monetary innovations has been combined with a unique technological history. But, more fundamentally, they are all connected with a deep longing for some kind of revolution in society, "Shill said in a blog post.
In the same publication, he added that "cryptocurrencies are a declaration of faith in a new community of business cosmopolitans that stand above national governments, who are seen as the engines of a long chain of inequality and war."
This idea is reinforced in statements that gave the Nobel Prize to CNBC , where he said that many people are upset with current policies, which has led them to stop trusting their governments; so the idea of Bitcoin, a currency that does not depend on the State, has caught their attention. Therefore, Shill believes that the growth of this cryptocurrency is due to something more psychological than economic.
"The public's fascination with cryptocurrencies is linked to a kind of mystery," he wrote for the blog, "as the mystery of the value of money itself, which consists of the connection of new money with advanced science."
The Yale professor emphasizes that there is still too much mystery behind Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies. Although the idea seems seductive, for the innovation it represents, it is taking the same path as the other failed coins. This is explained at the end of its publication:
"Virtually no one, outside the IT departments, can explain how cryptocurrencies work. That mystery creates an aura of exclusivity, gives a new glamor to money and fills devotees with revolutionary enthusiasm. None of this is new and, as with the monetary innovations of the past, a compelling story may not be enough. "