CRYPTOCURRENCIES AND MONETARY THEORY: AN INTRODUCTION

Abstract

The traditional concept of money is not suitable for studying the cryptocurrency phenomenon. A more sophisticated definition is presented in this article as a superior alternative for studying and analyzing cryptocurrencies. Its employment in the analysis allows us to conclude that the major monetary innovation of cryptocurrencies is to make feasible producing reliable and flexible evidence of production of goods and services without monitoring the actions of those responsible for issuing and managing such evidence. The main contribution of this article is to disseminate the employed definition of money and the fundamental concept of cryptocurrency as implied by the Economic Theory. This is especially important for the Brazilian context, in which these concepts are not widespread.