"Cryptocurrency does not avoid having a central bank. The bitcoin algorithm is, in effect, a central bank for bitcoin. Bitcoin has a robot central bank." I disagree, Miles. Yes, it is a designed system. But there is nothing about it that doesn't qualify as "free market."

— George Selgin (@GeorgeSelgin) August 1, 2019

George, I think you might be coming from "Rules are better than discretion." The way you are using words, it seems you would be saying a central bank that was following a very strict rule would then qualify as free-market interest-rate setting. If not, why different from BTC?

— Miles Kimball (@mileskimball) August 1, 2019

Not at all, Miles: I’m simply insisting that despite their similarities central
Banks are non- free-market, whereas Bitcoin is a free market phenomenon.

— George Selgin (@GeorgeSelgin) August 1, 2019

Very strong network externalities give something of an imposed quality to any monetary system, even if it arises spontaneously with no central authority.

— Miles Kimball (@mileskimball) August 1, 2019

“Something of an imposed...” Where is the legislation behind Bitcoin? No legislation=not “imposed” in any sense suggesting non-market. Argument by analogy is very misleading here.

— George Selgin (@GeorgeSelgin) August 1, 2019

"Free market" exists only in models, as far as I can tell. In principle, we could have an unregulated monetary system (a very poor one) in which means of payment are cryptocurrencies. We could also have a purely algorithmic central bank, which would no doubt work poorly.

— Stephen Williamson (@1954swilliamson) August 1, 2019

Also, given that actual major central banks in fact seemed to have solved the inflationary-bias problem, I would want to see models of the benefits of free market monetary policy that assume that the alternative has average inflation of 2% or less, except in a catastrophe.

— Miles Kimball (@mileskimball) August 1, 2019

Here FYI is my own way of understanding how Bitcoin compares with both fiat M and gold: https://t.co/VUyiquwHc1

— George Selgin (@GeorgeSelgin) August 1, 2019

I hasten to add, Miles, that I'm not claiming the Bitcoin would make a GOOD standard money. I only insist that, good or bad, it is "free market" in every ordinarily-understood meaning of that expression. Unlike some, I do not treat "free market" as a synonym for "good." 1/2

— George Selgin (@GeorgeSelgin) August 1, 2019

Also looking for models that analyze the coexistence of both. https://t.co/ImA2Gjduyz guessing there must be more, hoping to get pointed in the right direction.

— Evan Kuo (@evankuo) August 1, 2019