Monopoly Money: Framing Bitcoin as the Last-Mover in Blockchain
Bitcoin perhaps exemplifies the power of both monopoly and competition, nChains' Jack Davies writes.
These are companies akin to Apple, Google, and Tesla, which have brought such significant paradigm-shifts that they have changed the very nature of their sectors. There is a reason that the word ‘Google’ has entered our global vocabulary as a replacement for any and all synonyms for ‘search’. These are the monopolies of the world and this, Peter Thiel argues, is the name of the game.
Whether this is a good thing for global trade, and wider society for that matter, is an open question and one that is receiving increased scrutiny as every day passes. It is undeniable that even the most monopolistic of companies provide consumers with immense value, but the salient question is: at what cost? Most of us will use numerous Google products many times each day for free, as an essential part of daily life. But in the background, our data is harvested by opaque algorithms and sold to the highest bidder. This is a complex issue in and of itself, and not one I seek to resolve here, but it is important to bear in mind nonetheless.
Instead, I want to explore how the principles of monopoly articulated by Thiel may apply to a very different system: Bitcoin.
This post originally appeared on Medium, Read More Here.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
