Bitcoin in light of the Austrian theory of money

Olga Peniaz and Aliaksandr Kavaliou

Chapter 12 in Hayek’s Living Legacy in Economics, Philosophy and Policy, 2026, pp 202-218 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The rise of Bitcoin and similar digital means of payment poses important challenges to the fiat money system and sparks renewed debate on the nature of money itself. The representatives of the Austrian school of economics pay particular attention to the understanding of the essence of cryptocurrencies. The reasons for such interest lie in the existence of three specific elements of the theory of money in the Austrian tradition: the theory of the origin of money by Carl Menger, the theory of the value of money by Ludwig von Mises, the concept of competitive currencies of Friedrich August von Hayek. This chapter examines Bitcoin through the perspective of Austrian monetary theory. Particularly, the chapter analyses key questions, such as whether Bitcoin's emergence aligns with the evolutionary origins of money and its relationship to Mises’ regression theorem; it explores Bitcoin's role in the broader context of Hayek's currency competition.

Keywords: Theory of Money; Bitcoin; Fiat Money; Cryptocurrencies; Monetary Theory; Regression Theorem (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035394234
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035394227.00018 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:25524_12

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().