There are many reasons to doubt the monetary value of Bitcoin, the virtual currency whose exchange rate has been gyrating wildly this month, but no one can deny its comedy value.
“Bitcoin has worth just because a bunch of people on the internet have agreed it is worth something – like Psy,” joked Stephen Colbert recently, comparing Bitcoin to the South Korean entertainer whose music video “Gangnam Style” went viral last year.
As on the Colbert Report show, so too at the New York branch of the Federal Reserve, which held a gathering this week for some of the grandees of financial regulation. When one person asked if Bitcoin could become a viable unit of international exchange, participants burst out laughing.