Policy

Tech Visionary George Gilder: "Bitcoin is the Libertarian Solution to the Money Enigma."

"The currency the Internet deserves and needs."

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"Bitcoin is a breakthrough in information theory that allows [users] to conduct provable transactions that can't be changed…without reference to trusted third parties," says tech writer and investor George Gilder. "[Bitcoin] is the perfect libertarian solution to the money enigma."

When Gilder makes tech predictions, it's worth paying attention. In Microcosm: The Quantum Revolution in Economics and Technology (1989) he described how the silicon chip would usher in a new information age. In TELECOSM: How Infinite Bandwidth will Revolutionize Our World (2000), he predicted the rise of hand-held

computers and fiber optics. In Life After Television: The Coming Transformation of Media and American Life (1990), Gilder predicted that "telecomputers" would one day provide a limitless alternative to broadcast television. That was 15 years before the launch of YouTube.

Reason TV's Nick Gillespie sat down with Gilder to talk about why he thinks Bitcoin is a revolutionary technology. The interview took place at FreedomFest 2014, an annual convention for libertarians held each year in Las Vegas.

Shot and edited by Jim Epstein; additional camera Zach Weissmueller.

About 19:30.

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