Bitcoin and the illusion of money

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130412-bitcoin-and-the-illusion-of-money/

Writing in 1976, Fredrich Hayek argued in The Denationalization of Money for the removal of the legal obstacles preventing people from using any kind of money they wanted, thus creating a kind of global battle between different rival systems.

"We have always had bad money," Hayek argued "because private enterprise was not permitted to give us a better one." No government has yet has acted on Hayek's faith in the power of the open market. The world, though, may already have embarked on just such an experiment.  Betting against Bitcoins is one thing. But the change they represent packs quite a punch – and, with conventional finance on the ropes, it's still anybody's fight.

(via Instapaper)