Danmarks Nationalbank, the Danish central bank, has issued a stern warning on bitcoin, saying that it is not money in the true sense of the word, as it is not backed by an issuing institution.
Rather than functioning like money, bitcoins display the characteristics of commodities – that is, users attach value to them, not issuers or central banks.
Yet, said the bank, bitcoins do not have intrinsic value like gold and silver, and they bear a closer resemblance to “glass beads” – an apparent reference to the beads that were traded in past centuries for gold, ivory and other commodities.
March 19, 2014 at 01:33PM
