Economics Beyond Financial Intermediation: Digital Currencies’ Potential for Growth, Poverty Alleviation and International Development

Ammous, Saifedean. 2015. "Economics beyond Financial Intermediation: Digital Currencies' Possibilities for Growth, Poverty Alleviation, and International Development." The Journal of Private Enterprise, 30(3): 19-50.

32 Pages Posted: 1 Sep 2016

Date Written: September 1, 2015

Abstract

Bitcoin is the first technology for the final transfer of digital goods online, facilitating instant global payments without intermediation. Bitcoin’s operation is based on a distributed, decentralized, and transparent asset ledger that acts as an ongoing chain record of all transactions. The system issues coins to reward those who contribute processing power to the network’s operation. The possibilities created by this innovation are significant for the world’s poor, who could skip traditional political and financial institutions and move to digital currencies in the same way they have gone straight to using mobile phones and skipped landline telephones.

Keywords: bitcoin, innovation, finance, development

JEL Classification: F30, O31

Suggested Citation

Ammous, Saifedean, Economics Beyond Financial Intermediation: Digital Currencies’ Potential for Growth, Poverty Alleviation and International Development (September 1, 2015). Ammous, Saifedean. 2015. "Economics beyond Financial Intermediation: Digital Currencies' Possibilities for Growth, Poverty Alleviation, and International Development." The Journal of Private Enterprise, 30(3): 19-50., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2832738

Saifedean Ammous (Contact Author)

Lebanese American University ( email )

P.O.Box 36
Chouran-Beirut 1102 2801
Byblos
Lebanon

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