Cryptocurrencies: Genesis, typology and trends

Abstract

Based on the observation that there is chaos in the crypto-world and the need to regulate this ecosystem, this paper proposes: (i) to revisit the genesis and draw up a state of the art concerning the different forms of cryptocurrencies, (ii) suggest a typology in order to (iii) review the directions that could be taken by their development. From an academic view, in addition to Economics, this could be of interest to many other disciplinary fields, particularly Computer science, Law and History. Methodologically, this paper is based on a historical and dialectical approach. That allows us to distinguish two main types of cryptocurrencies: those which are decentralised and those which are sovereign. This common categorisation can be refined according to some specific criteria, in particular: the nature of the digital flow, the consensus algorithm, the issuer and the core technology. Thus, we can differentiate seven sub-categories of cryptocurrencies: the primitive digital currencies, the Bitcoin, the Altcoins, the Stablecoins and what we call the Iotcoins, on the one hand; then the Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) and what we call the National Digital Currencies (NDC) on the other. From our view, given the volatility of the decentralised cryptocurrencies, the security aspects and their propensity to finance the shadow economy, their coexistence with the sovereign cryptocurrencies will undoubtedly arise. Concerning particularly the (future) Govcoins, the CBDC seem to have more support than the NDC, given the everlasting issue of temporal inconsistency.