Bitcoin Bet: Niche, Novelty or Revolution

The most recent episode of the Planet Money podcast discussed a bet between high profile venture capitalist Ben Horowitz and Reuters financial reporter Felix Salmon over the future of the virtual currency Bitcoin.  

Here is a description of the podcast: 

Ben Horowitz is a big-time venture capitalist. His firm invested in Facebook and Twitter. More recently, the firm invested some $50 million in startups related to bitcoin, the virtual currency that works like online cash. Ben thinks bitcoin is going to change the way people buy and sell stuff on the Internet.

Felix Salmon, a high-profile finance blogger at Reuters, is a prominent bitcoin skeptic.

So when Felix recently published an essay calling bitcoin a bubble that was sure to burst, Benposted a comment challenging him to a bet over the future of bitcoin.

“I said, ‘Why don’t we just bet?'” Ben told us. “And I’ve read enough of Felix’s stuff to know that would be irresistible to him.”

“He’s right about that,” Felix said. “Being challenged by Ben Horowitz is kind of a high point of my career. So I immediately said yes.”

When we heard about the challenge, we invited Felix and Ben to come on Planet Money to hash out the details of the bet. Basically, we offered to be their bookie. Fortunately for us, they accepted.

For more about Bitcoin from the SLACE Archive see:  

Bitcoin and the Law (Jan. 15, 2014)

Bitcoin: The Virtual Currency Bubble? (April 13, 2013)