Overall, yes I agree that cryptocurrencies will not replace fiat, I do believe that they can easily coexist and that Shiller's article completely dismisses that possibility.



Not sure I quite understand your argument about it cryptocurrency being inequitable... Yes the value has increased. No there will probably not ever be one single currency that replaces fiat. There are a lot of people that hold a lot of BTC, but there are also a lot of people that hold amounts of USD that I could never hope to catch up to. That inequality will always exist. Do I wish I had bought Amazon at $18 a share? Yes. Are there people who got unimaginably rich from buying it at $18 and going along for the ride? Probably. Does that mean that no one should purchase it at a much higher price now? No.



I'm not speculating on price here. The value is in the openness and the freedom of the system while still providing security to the user. What crypto does is formalizes digital payments without relying on a centralized party. With out current banking system I can see in my online account that I have X number of dollars in my account, but the bank does not necessarily have that money on hand. Instead I can send money through a digital credit system that either promises that my bank will deliver the money to someone or that Visa will deliver the money and I will repay visa. With Bitcoin (or other cryptocurrencies), I may not know what the value will be in USD next week given the current volatility, but I know that the Bitcoin is there and can be moved anywhere in the world at a moment's notice. I don't have to trust anyone else and I cannot be charged fees by a third party to access my money.



The technology is still nascent and how it's valued is obviously still very speculative, but the use cases are ever-growing as the world becomes more connected and automated. This article is comparing cryptocurrency to failed monetary attempts that lacked many of the fundamental qualities of a currency. What it should be doing is comparing crypto to systems like Visa that have become the dominant form of transaction for many people, but are just a ghost of the traditional US banking system. Either that or focus on the ability of a global open currency to allow citizens of corrupt governments to purchase goods and services, which is currently the way more important use case.