Bitcoin’s role in the evolution of money with University of Exeter’s Dr. Jack Rogers
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Is Bitcoin just another type of money? An undergraduate module dedicated to Bitcoin at the University of Exeter sheds light on the question by delving into the history of money. The module, called “Bitcoin, Money and Trust”, was launched in 2018 following high demand from students to learn about Bitcoin.
Dr Jack Rogers, Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Exeter launched the Bitcoin module as a precursor to an MSc Fintech course that he leads. He says participation has increased tenfold in recent years – from less than 50 students when it was launched to 700 this year.
Despite the impressive turnout, Jack believes that “probably the big numbers are partly driven by the wrong reasons – all the different hype and the sense that you can get rich from this.”
In this week’s episode of CoinGeek Conversations, Charles Miller talks to Jack about the University of Exeter’s Bitcoin teaching, the evolution of money and the role Bitcoin plays.
Jack points to the rise of central banking as a step change in history. He quoted Felix Martin, the author of “Money: The Unauthorized Biography,” which he remembers talking about a “compromise power structure” between the central bank and the government. For the first time in centuries, a decoupling of money and the state is happening before our eyes, suggests Charles. Jack agrees, saying that “a new technology that allows people potentially pay each other without using existing fiat-based systems” has actually raised fundamental questions. He relates to the author’s views on cryptocurrency and how it leads to a disruption in the payment system that central banks have had control over for a long time.
Jack believes the disruption in central banking was inevitable in the end: “I think these things, the central bank, digital currencies and things you see now, maybe it came after all… I think the rise of Bitcoin and all the hype and everything kind of brought it forward. “
Based on Jack’s comments, it is safe to say that the future of money will depend on the outcome of the competition between blockchain-based payment systems. For now, he admits, no one is sure where Bitcoin is headed.
“One of my students did a great thesis on this, speculating that in 20 years there will be lots of different kinds of money? What does that look like? I mean, nobody can really say,” Jack said.
Dr. Jack Rogers co-authored a textbook with Brendan Lee and Neil Smith. The book will be published by the end of 2023.
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