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What is a bitcoin worth?

Lynette Shaw, Complex Systems, University of Michigan
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
11:30 AM-1:00 PM
10th Floor Weiser Hall Map
THE EVENT WILL BE LIVE STREAMED ON LSA WEBSITE (link below). #UMichTalks #bitcoin

Fresh off her @MichiganEngineering Facebook Live Bitcoin discussion, Dr Shaw presents an illuminating discussion on the topic.

Abstract
The first posted exchange rate for Bitcoin in 2009 was around $0.001 (USD) = 1 BTC.  Just over eight years later, in mid-December 2017, it reached an inconceivable high of over $19,000 (USD) = 1 BTC, only to lose near 40% of its value the following month. Along with this dramatic ride in its price came a new wave of attention from mainstream audiences who brought with them a lot of questions - the two biggest being ‘What is Bitcoin?’ and ‘Why is it worth anything?’
 
This talk will offer some answers to these questions. The first part will use a computational modeling approach to help clarify how it is that this “something out of nothing” quality can arise out of social valuation processes. The second part will then combine information from the documented history of Bitcoin’s development, venture capital funding trends, and text scraped from thousands of news articles to explore the role different groups’ definitions of Bitcoin have played in constituting its current level of value and what this might entail for cryptocurrency’s future.
Building: Weiser Hall
Website:
Event Type: Workshop / Seminar
Tags: Bitcoin, Complex Systems, Culture, Economics, Free, Information and Technology, Sociology, symposium, Umichtalks
Source: Happening @ Michigan from The Center for the Study of Complex Systems