In this episode Saifedean invites back Professor Paul Frijters of the London School of Economics to debate whether bitcoin is a good form of money. Saifedean makes the case for money as a market phenomenon, and argues that bitcoin has the scarcity, divisibility, fungibility and transportability that humans have historically valued in monies. Paul questions whether bitcoin mining is a zero-sum game and whether the fact that people hold bitcoin really demonstrates it has value. The debate touches on the demonetization of silver in China, the scarcity of land, and whether government force is legitimate at all.ResourcesNick Szabo’s article Shelling Out for an account of the historical emergence of money.When Money Dies by Adam FergussonWhen Money Destroys Nations by Russell Lamberti and Philip HaslamThe Ethics of Liberty by Murray RothbardThe Great Cholesterol Con by Malcolm KendrickThe Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz, for further discussion of cholesterolPaul’s article Why Blockchain has no economic futurePaul’s textbook A Handbook for Wellbeing Policy-Making: History, Theory, Measurement, Implementation, and Examples.Saifedean’s first book, The Bitcoin StandardSaifedean’s second book, The Fiat StandardEnjoyed this episode? You can take part in podcast seminars, access Saifedean’s courses and read chapters of his forthcoming books by becoming a Saifedean.com member. Find out more here.THE BITCOIN STANDARD TOOLKIT/SPONSORSNYDIG - https://nydig.comCyphersafe - https://cyphersafe.io/ OKCoin - https://okcoin.com/Nodl - https://www.nodl.it/Coldcard - https://coldcardwallet.com/CoinBits App - https://coinbitsapp.com/