Valuation Professor on Bitcoin

[EBounding]

As someone who doesn't know much about Bitcoin and neutral on the subject, I thought this article by a well known corporate valuation professor was interesting:

Bitcoin Q & A: Bubble or Breakthrough? Both! Cult or Currency? Both!

TLDR

Bitcoin: To Buy or Not to Buy?
Now, for the $640 question! Would I buy Bitcoin at today's price? No, and not because I am a Luddite that is convinced that digital currencies will not work. It is because I have never been good at calling currency movements and consequently have never bet on them. Since I would not bet on the dollar strengthening relative to the Euro or on the future price of gold, why would I try to do so with Bitcoin?

I believe that there will be a digital currency in wide use a decade or two from now. The question, of course, is whether that digital currency will be Bitcoin or a competitor. If you are a Bitcoin enthusiast, the pathway to its success requires three developments: the computer algorithm underlying the currency has to stay transparent, robust and protected, the usage of Bitcoins has to spread beyond the narrow band of enthusiasts to the broader marketplace and the infrastructure for securing, transporting and saving Bitcoins has to be strengthened. That will require true believers to accept compromises to both their vision (of a truly decentralized currency with no regulatory authorities or power) and their practices (anonymity, for instance, might become a casualty to commerce). Anarchy is a great disruptor of the status quo, but long-lasting currencies require order and predictability, and Bitcoin's biggest promoters seem to have little fondness for either.

He ranks the currencies in the following order:

1) US Dollar
2) Gold
3) Chinese Yuan
4) Bitcoin
5) Argentine Pesos

I'm importing the blockchain and setting up a wallet. I might buy $20 worth or something just to see what it's about.

[FSP-Rebel]

He ranks the currencies in the following order:

1) US Dollar
2) Gold
3) Chinese Yuan
4) Bitcoin
5) Argentine Pesos

Oreally?

[amonasro]

Economists tend to miss the bigger picture by separating Bitcoin the currency from its blockchain, which is the real innovation. The interesting thing is that a distributed blockchain cannot exist without some form of incentive for miners to grow the network. Bitcoin's digital asset ledger is valuable because enough people agree to the rules governing the network: A currency that is limited in supply, cryptographically secure and easy to transfer across the internet. A bitcoin thus is not only a currency, but a share in a worldwide distributed network, a store of value and a speculative instrument that will hopefully stabilize in value over time. A centralized blockchain cannot exist, which is why the idea of a corporate or government-backed digital currency would never work.

[KCIndy]

I'm importing the blockchain and setting up a wallet. I might buy $20 worth or something just to see what it's about.

Try it. You'll get addicted.

Coinbase.com and CashIntoCoins.com are both good places to buy BTC if you don't already have someplace lined up.

[Shane Harris]

"Anarchy is a great disruptor of the status quo, but long-lasting currencies require order and predictability, and Bitcoin's biggest promoters seem to have little fondness for either."

Why does he think anarchists are against order or predictability?