Mises Conference: Better Money for the World

The motto of this year's conference of the German Ludwig von Mises Institute was "Better Money for the World". My contribution was a talk about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Thorsten Polleit and Andreas Marquart, board members of the Mises Institute, inaugurated the one day event, which attracted about 100 participants from Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Andreas Marquart

The conference took place in the main ballroom of Bayerischer Hof, one of the most posh hotels in Munich. The first talk was given by Jörg Guido Hülsman from the University of Angers. He explained why the Austrian School of Economics criticises the current monetary system, which depends on a money monopoly of the state and heavily redistributes wealth from the bottom to the top.

The Ballroom of Hotel Bayerischer Hof.

The next speaker was Joseph Huber, who presented an alternative monetary system which gives even more power to the state and its central bank, called Vollgeldsystem. ("Full Money System"). He had obviously been invited as a controversial speaker to spice up the discussion, as his model completely contradicts the teachings of the Austrian School.

Philipp Bagus

Philipp Bagus from the Rey Juan Carlos University Madrid used the methods of the Austrian School to pull Huber's model to pieces. This was very amusing and showed how superior the Austrian School is compared to other schools of economic thinking. 

He concluded that Austrians prefer a monetary system which relies to 100% on private money such as gold - or Bitcoin! This was quite a surprise to me. I thought that Austrians are usually critical towards Bitcoin, as it is not backed by precious metals. 

So I was looking forward to the reactions of the audience to my own talk, which was slated right after the lunch break.

I started my talk with this short video which we made for Bitcoin.de some years ago. Then I explained Bitcoin and Blockchain technology for a not so tech-savvy audience. I also mentioned Steem, but I had to keep it simple, so I mostly focussed on Bitcoin.

How Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology Will Change the World.  Photo: @fabio / A. Marquart

The feedback to my talk was overwhelmingly positive. People queued up with copies of my book to get it signed. This is still new and thrilling to me!

Thorsten Polleit

Thorsten Polleit from the gold trading house Degussa, who is also the chairman of the Mises Institute, gave a recap of several suggestions of Austrian Economists for better money, from Ludwig von Mises' suggestion of a fully gold backed dollar, to Friedrich August von Hayek's concept of a free competition of currencies.

He then added his own suggestion of a gold backed digital coin, based on the coloured coin method. If you don't know what a coloured coin is, here is a movie that explains the concept:

After a coffee break, all speakers gathered for a Q & A session with the audience. This turned into a fierce discussion of the four Austrians on the panel with Mr. Huber, whose Vollgeld model did not really convince us. It was brave of him to present his thoughts to an audience as anti-centralistic and anti-state as the one at this decidedly libertarian conference. 

Panel discussion with all five speakers. Photo: @fabio

Speaking at the Mises Conference was an amazing experience for me. I would have never expected such a positive attitude towards cryptocurrencies among Austrians. Although the outer appearance of this conference, full of well dressed gentlemen in a five star hotel, could not have been more different than the Hackers Congress in Prague I visited last week, the spirit was very similar.

By the way, the Mises Institute now accepts Bitcoins for donations, and I am glad that I was the first (albeit small) donor.