Michael Casey, co-author of The Age of Cryptocurrency, explains why Wall Street institutions are interested in blockchain-based settlement technology.
Insight
Casey: Framing Bitcoin as a 'trustless' system is a problematic mistake
“One of the reasons why I think they struggle with that is because they've come up with this meme that I think is actually problematic, and that is that there's no, we're a trustless activity. We don't need trust anymore. It's like, no, no, you absolutely do ne…”
Insight
Casey: Interest in developing world Bitcoin adoption is top-down, not bottom-up
“As to whether that's actually sort of coming from there, the interest, it's kind of, it's a top-down level of interest rather than bottom-up.”
Opinion
Casey: Wall Street sits between dismissal and curiosity on Bitcoin
“Wall Street, of course, is a, you know, huge, amorphous mass of people but if you were to kind of collectivize the thinking, I think they're possibly on the border of, they're not at the oh fuck moment... Ultimately, I think that they're at, The third stage. I…”
Insight
Casey defines money as a multi-layered ledger tracking system
“Money in fact is, A ledger. It is a ledger that's built around multiple ledgers in reality, some of which are in our heads, some of which are inside banks, and in this, it's the system for keeping track of value, and keeping track of ownership, keeping track o…”
Insight
Casey: Bitcoin replaces central intermediaries with community blockchain consensus
“Bitcoin is a solution to that, because it outsources that role, that intermediation of trust, to the entire community. And it finds a, you know, a fascinating, unique instrument that, you know, that is the blockchain and the consensus process through which the…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Casey: International digital money transfers cost more than shipping physical goods
“The model as it is, is just really expensive and inefficient, right? I mean, it costs more money, ah, and in many cases more time even, to send money, which is nothing more than bits and bytes, right? Digital money from one place in the world to another than i…”