“Powerful Implications” – Bitcoin Reveals Government Currency Controls

[kreslik.news]

Gina C. Pieters of University College London presented a paper called “Bitcoin Reveals Exchange Rate Manipulation and Detects Capital Controls” at the Royal Economic Society’s annual conference in March.

Originally written in 2016, it introduces the idea that Bitcoin can be used to approximate unofficial rates of currency exchange, revealing the distortions surreptitiously applied by national governments. Even smaller interventions that would otherwise go undetected can be revealed by studying Bitcoin exchange rates, because the latter are updated daily and open to all.

Background

Governments often advertise the exchange rates of their currencies as free-floating because a lack of artificial barriers attracts foreign trade. ... (read more)