Last week I was reading about Bitcoin, the open source peer-to-peer digital currency, in a technology magazine. It was predicted that Bitcoins would become an alternative to central bank issued currency as they circumvent the traditional banking and payments system. As a result, their value against the dollar had surged from $20 at the beginning of 2013 to $266 dollars yesterday. However, yesterday, after reaching this high, the price of a Bitcoin fell back to $150. Click here to see price and trading history of Bitcoin. Some experts think that these price patterns signal that there is a Bitcoin 'bubble' - see here and here.
According to Robert Shiller , speaking at Davos, Bitcoin is a perfect example of a bubble - story here . Shiller sees Bitcoin as a backwards step in the evolution of money. George Selgin , a free banker, takes an opposing view - click here . Although he doesn't believe that Bitcoin is money, he sees its development as a fascinating turn in the evolution of money. In particular, he lauds the fact that Bitcoin production is constrained and cannot be infinite. There is a short video below where Bitcoin explain how it works.