Bitcoin's theoretical roots and ideology
According to the European Central Bank, the decentralization of money offered by bitcoin has its theoretical roots in the Austrian school of economics, especially with Friedrich Hayek's The Denationalisation of Money, in which he advocates a complete free market in the production, distribution and management of money to end the monopoly of central banks. Sociologist Nigel Dodd argues that the essence of the bitcoin ideology is to remove money from social, as well as governmental, control.The Economist describes bitcoin as "a techno-anarchist project to create an online version of cash, a way for people to transact without the possibility of interference from malicious governments or banks".These philosophical ideas initially attracted libertarians and anarchists. Economist Paul Krugman argues that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are only used by bank skeptics and criminals.
