In 2016, the governor of the People's Bank of China made a rare statement on blockchain and digital currency in an interview with Caixin Media: "From the perspective of historical development trends, currency has always evolved with technological progress and the development of economic activities. From the early physical currency and commodity currency to the later credit currency, they are all natural choices to adapt to the development of human commercial society. As the currency of the previous generation, paper currency has low technical content, and from the perspectives of safety and cost, it is used by new technologies, The replacement of new products is the general trend. Especially with the development of the Internet, huge changes have taken place in payment methods around the world. The establishment of digital currency issuance and circulation systems, the construction of financial infrastructure, and the promotion of economic quality and efficiency upgrades are all important. It is very necessary." It is not difficult to find that the People's Bank of China has fully realized that digital currency is an inevitable development in the new era, and blockchain is an option.
A typical view that represents the vast majority of central banks is presented in the "Digital Currency" report written by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and central banks. CPMI (Committee on Payments and Market Research), an organization affiliated to the Bank for International Settlements, pointed out that Bitcoin is a type of digital currency, which can be viewed from the following three dimensions.
First, it is an asset, which, like many other currencies, can be used as a means of payment, but at the same time is not necessarily linked to a sovereign currency, without the endorsement of any entity or official authority (this One point is different from QQ coins and network virtual coins).
Second, it has no intrinsic value, so its proper value depends on the people who are willing to accept it, use it, and on their confidence in its future (exchangeable goods, services, currencies).
Third, the third-party institutions currently involved are mostly composed of "non-banking organizations" that are very active in developing and maintaining digital currencies and distributed ledger technology.
Among the factors that need to be considered when developing and deploying Bitcoin, this report also mentions network effects. Just as telephones and mobile phones entered the world for the first time, the more people use them, the more their value increases. the bigger. As more and more people adopt Bitcoin, its value will also increase. And this stems from its inherent advantages:
(1) The initial design considers convenience, global accessibility, and global cross-border use;
(2) Cheap. (Central banks have also acknowledged that, at least in the context of some transactions, it provides a more convenient and cheaper method for users)
In the eyes of central banks, there is also a pessimistic side, and it also has the shortcomings of lack of security and trust subjects. But none of this prevents Bitcoin from continuing to function as a value-transmitting token or a value-transmitting language.
However, in the eyes of libertarians, Bitcoin obviously goes further. It can not only be used as a safe and reliable mechanism for storing and transferring the value of fiat currency, but also a value operation method (Value over IP) on the Internet protocol. Bitcoin replaces the traditional property rights chain in property law in a brand-new way, protects the asset interests of users in an identifiable and secure way, and provides a set of transparent rules and enforcement mechanisms so that all participants can be subject to the billing. equality. All of these functions performed by Bitcoin do not depend on financial, regulatory or judicial authorities, Bitcoin itself is the code of law. This is especially reflected in places where there is a lack of a sound financial system, where the legal system fails, and where the stability of citizens' property rights cannot be guaranteed.
Kenyans using Kipochi wallets can not only use Bitcoin's global financial system as they wish, but can also exchange Bitcoins for M-Pesa for local transactions and shopping. In the new era, Filipinos and Malaysian Chinese who have gone far to the Nanyang Nuggets can transfer Southeast Asian currencies back to their homes in mainland China at low fees through OKlink.
Where governments and the private sector have failed, open source development has found a solution in Bitcoin. Looking back on the history of its birth, we will also find that Bitcoin was born in the international financial crisis that began in 2008, amid the general bubble and the loss of authoritarian trust. It can be said that not only Bitcoin developers created Bitcoin, but This era created Bitcoin.