Search Results for: bitcoin
Dangerous fantasy: Gold, Bitcoin won’t help you find freedom outside government – Interviewed on Kitco NEWS
, 06/06/2022
Central banks should issue their own democratically controlled crypto, not bypassed by Bitcoin-like cryptocurrencies” I told David Lin, Anchor and Producer at Kitco News; a service catering largely to the crypto community who (as you will see in the comments) cannot stand my rejection of their collective fantasy that crypto currencies will liberate us from […]
What is money, really? And why Bitcoin is not the answer (even if blockchain is brilliant & potentially helpful in democratising money)
, 02/08/2021
Recently, I argued that a central bank cryptocurrency can be a useful tool in the struggle to democratise money. Such a tool is, of course, not enough. The main task in democratising money is first to democratise the central bank – before deploying useful instruments like a central bank cryptocurrency. As many readers (correctly) pointed […]
Why Bitcoin is not a socialist’s ally – Reply to Ben Arc
, 27/07/2020
On 15th July, Ben Arc published in Bitcoin Magazine an open letter addressed to me in a bid to convince me that I should re-assess my rejection of Bitcoin as a force for good; as a bulwark for democratising capitalism and paving the ground for socialism. Here is my reply: Dear Ben Arc, Thank you […]
Bitcoin, Blockchain and the Future of Europe – Interviewed by Tom Upchurch for WIRED
, 25/12/2017
In an exclusive interview with WIRED, Yanis Varoufakis discusses Bitcoin’s bubble, the fantasy of apolitical money and the opportunities for the blockchain to reform Europe. By TOM UPCHURCH Saturday 23 December 2017 When I first met Yanis Varoufakis in the summer of 2014, he was a highly respected but relatively obscure economist. Back then, the price […]
On Bitcoin’s potential: Q&A on what Bitcoin can and cannot offer a troubled world
, 13/03/2014
Following my debate with Andreas Antonopoulos on ABC Late Night Live, graduate students of mine (at the University of Texas) were kind enough to piece together a related Q&A reflecting my views on BTC. Read on…
Debating Bitcoin on ABC Late Night Live, with Phillip Adams and Andreas Antonopoulos
, 13/03/2014
In this lively debate, on ABC Radio National’s excellent Late Night Live (with Phillip Adams in the chair), we discuss what makes Bitcoin a fascinating technology, whether it is a genuine currency, its parallels with the Gold Standard and what I have called previously the dangerous fantasy of apolitical money.
BITCOIN: A flawed currency blueprint with a potentially useful application for the Eurozone
, 15/02/2014
The responses of many to my post on Bitcoin reveal a powerful tendency to underestimate the ill-effects of deflation on a social economy. This tendency to underestimate deflation’s deleterious impact matters beyond debates on Bitcoin per se. For example, in Europe the incapacity of the European Central Bank (ECB) to act in the face of […]
Bitcoin and the dangerous fantasy of ‘apolitical’ money
, 22/04/2013
The Crash of 2008 has infused our societies with enormous scepticism on the role of the authorities, both government and Central Banks. It is quite natural that many dream of a currency that politicians, bankers and central bankers cannot manipulate; a currency of the people by the people for the people. Bitcoin has emerged as […]
A Trust Fund for Everyone to Defuse the Stablecoin Time Bomb – Project Syndicate
, 12/07/2025
ATHENS – Margaret Thatcher famously quipped that the problem with socialists is that, eventually, they run out of other people’s money. But what happens when bankers run out of other people’s money, as seems likely to happen soon? Either we end up with another calamitous financial meltdown or we innovate to serve the public interest […]
Jacobin’s ‘On the Legacy of Greece’s Oxi Referendum: An interview with Yanis Varoufakis’
, 12/07/2025
On the day the Financial Times published its latest article whitewashing the criminally insane troika’s (comprising the EU Commission, ECB and IMF) hatchet job on Greece, which has rendered the country a permanently bankrupt colony, Jacobin published this interview (read here, listen here) in which I lay down three basic facts: First, the referendum ten […]
The stablecoin time bomb hidden in Trump’s GENIUS act: Prepare for the next financial meltdown – UNHERD, 19 JUNE 2025
, 25/06/2025
Francisco Goya’s etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters was an artist’s stern warning of the hideous forces unleashed in the mind when reason lowers its guard. Today, stablecoins are the gruesome forces being released into the global economy as President Trump’s crypto dreams, unchecked by reason, morphed into the GENIUS Act. Stablecoins are the […]
Πως η Ευρώπη έπεσε στην αγκαλιά της πολεμοκαπηλείας, και τι πρέπει εμείς να κάνουμε – Ομιλία στην Ευρωβουλή 10/6/2025
, 14/06/2025
Πριν από ένα χρόνο, θα ξεκινούσα την ομιλία μου αυτή μ’ έναν θρήνο για τον, έως πρόσφατα, αδιανόητο μετασχηματισμό της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης από ένα οιωνοί Πρότζεκτ Ειρήνης σε Πρότζεκτ Πολέμου. Σήμερα δεν θα κάνω κάτι τέτοιο. Από πέρσι, η πολεμοκαπηλεία έχει εισχωρήσει στον ίδιο τον ιστό της Ένωσης, έχει παρεισφρήσει σε κάθε πολιτική της, έχει […]
The Economics of Europe’s Descent into Warmongering – and our duty now!
, 13/06/2025
On Tuesday, June 10 2025, I addressed a meeting at the European Parliament, an event organised by The Left and M5S Europa, on the theme of “The Economic Conditions for Peace”, alongside Jeffrey Sachs and Giuseppe Conte. My talk can be watched and read here. [INTRODUCTION] A year ago, I would have started this speech with a lament […]
Ο επικίνδυνος ρόλος των κρυπτονομισμάτων στο ηγεμονικό σχέδιο του Τραμπ – 247 News
, 23/03/2025
Κατά τη διάρκεια της πρώτης του θητείας στον Λευκό Οίκο ο Τραμπ απέρριπτε το Bitcoin ως απάτη. Από τότε έχει κάνει στροφή 180 μοιρών. Η αρχή έγινε κατά τη διάρκεια της εκστρατείας επανεκλογής του, την οποία στήριξαν φανατικοί θιασώτες των κρυπτονομισμάτων. Η μεταστροφή αυτή έφτασε τον απόγειό της όταν την 6η Μαρτίου, ως Πρόεδρος πια, υπέγραφε προεδρικό […]
Crypto’s role in Trump’s economic masterplan (with special emphasis on stablecoins) – UNHERD
, 19/03/2025
After dismissing Bitcoin as a scam during his first White House stint, Trump warmed to cryptocurrencies during his re-election campaign. To complete his conversion, on the 6th of March the 47th President signed an executive order to set up a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a US Digital Asset Stockpile”. The United States government sensibly stockpiles […]