The economic nature of bitcoin. Money, new gold or speculative asset?

Introduction: Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency to be introduced. It was released in 2009 by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto. In its creator’s words, Bitcoin is “a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party” (bitcoin.org). The aim of the present work is to understand the economic nature of bitcoin. Using the most up-to-date economic literature, this chapter clarifies whether bitcoin should be considered as money or as an asset or gold. The conclusion of the work is that bitcoin possesses the defining characteristics of a speculative asset. The rest of the chapter is organized as follows. The second section explores whether bitcoin can be considered money. The third and fourth sections investigate the possibility that bitcoin is the “new gold” and a speculative asset, respectively. The last section concludes, portraying some policy considerations and possible lines for future research.