People often say that Bitcoin is too risky since if it becomes too successful, and thus a threat to the state, the state will just ban it. After all, Franklin Roosevelt did this to gold in 1933 with Executive Order 6102 (text). This is how I myself got into Bitcoin. I saw its potential early on. I never had the stodgy Austrian “regression theorem” or physical commodity fetish hangup that led Austrians early on to argue that it is impossible for Bitcoin to become money. 1 In fact, back in 2011, I wrote in an email:
(IN the bitcoin thing with digital currency, you can arbitrarily increase the granularity by adding more digits; in such a digital numeraire (which I confess I sort of think is the ideal money, in some sense, though not in a practical sense given some political and other problems), you never need to increase the supply at all (once it reaches its asymptotic maximum), because any supply truly is enough: you never face the granularity problem you guys allude to. 2
Below is a lightly-edited transcript of my presentation of the same title to the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Property and Freedom Society on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019. Youtube embedded below. For the podcast, related links, and associated powerpoint slides, see KOL274 | Nobody Owns Bitcoin (PFS 2019). I expect to publish a version of this as an article shortly; for now, cite as Stephan Kinsella, “Nobody Owns Bitcoin,” StephanKinsella.com (April 21, 2021).
“Crusoe owns nothing on his island, as there is no legal order. Does this include his body?
He can control and use his body, but he doesn’t own it. Ownership is a legal relationship between an actor and a resource, that is recognized and respected by others in society. If there is no society or legal system, there are no norms or rules or rights.
Also: Does a slave, in a legal order that supports slavery, no longer own his body?
The master is the legal owner, but the slave is the natural or rightful owner. We have to distinguish possession or control, from ownership. And we have to distinguish positive law from just law. As Mises wrote: [continue reading…]
I’ve decided to try to set up contributions, on a regular basis, to some of the people and groups doing good work in libertarian, bitcoin, or related areas, via Patreon, Local, and other channels. Here are the ones I support at present, either irregularly or (usually) regularly. I plan to update this list from time to time.
My friends Walter Block and William Barnett published an interesting paper several years ago, “On the Optimum Quantity of Money,” Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2004, pp. 39-52. 1 At a Mises Institute conference in 2010 or 2011, or perhaps in a phone call with Walter, I believe we discussed this issue and some papers they had written about this. I disagreed with Walter and, after reading their full paper, sent them some critical comments. These (lightly edited), with some prefatory and additional comments, are appended below.
Prefatory Note
In this email, back in 2011, at the dawn of bitcoin, I said bitcoin seems almost like an “ideal money”. Too bad I didn’t act on it… : [continue reading…]
Fuller, Lon L., The Morality of law, rev’d 2d. ed., 1969
Sartori, Giovanni, Liberty and Law
Great American Law Reviews
For my own related stuff:
Stephan Kinsella, “Legislation and the Discovery of Law in a Free Society,” in Legal Foundations of a Free Society (Houston, Texas: Papinian Press, 2023)
Watson, Alan, The Importance of “Nutshells”, AJCL, 1994
Posner, Richard A., Blackstone and Bentham
Louisiana/Civil/Roman law/Common Law:
Merryman, John Henry, The Civil Law Tradition: An Introduction to the Legal Systems of Western Europe and Latin America, 2d. ed. 1985
Minor Risks and Major Rewards: Civilian Codification in North America on the Eve of the Twenty-First Century, Tul. Eur. & Civ. L. Forum, 1993, by Shael Herman
Comment: Reflections at the Close of Three Years of Law School: A Student’s Perspective on the “Value and Importance of Teaching Roman Law in Modern American Law Schools, Tul. L. Rev., by John J. Hogerty II
A History of American Law, 2d. ed., 1985, Lawrence M. Friedman (excerpts on the Civil Law/Louisiana, and on the Field Codes)
Zekoll, Joachim, The Louisiana Private Law System: The Best of Both Worlds, Tul. Eur. & Civ. L. For., 1995
Origins of Modern Codification of the Civil Law: The French Experience and its Implications for Louisiana Law, 56 Tul. L. Rev. 477 (1982), by Rodolfo Batiza
A couple years ago, one Jamin Hübner, who had previously submitted an article to my journal Libertarian Papers, then later appeared on Tom Woods’s show, ep. 1214, to discuss his anarcho-capitalist based Creative Common Law Project.
I thought it was interesting so emailed him comments and constructive criticism. He invited me to join the Advisory Board. I did (see below).
I was updating my bio and making sure this was still a viable project, and could no longer find the board of advisors. So I emailed him, and he told me “the project is going in a little bit different direction than previously” and he will no longer need “further input from the anarcho-capitalist community.” Hmm. Sounds curious. [continue reading…]
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