Two economists recently discussed the upcoming Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences and the possible outcome of this year’s ceremony, naming Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin as an unconventional candidate for his contributions to cryptocurrencies.
Economists make a non-traditional choice for the Nobel Prize in Economics
On Tuesday, Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabbarok discussed their predictions for the future Nobel Prize winner in economics. Both economists appear on The Marginal Revolution podcast common their thoughts on “questionable” past winners and who they think could win the award this year, examining a non-traditional choice like Vitalik Buterin.
Cowen suggested the Ethereum founder as his unusual choice, citing his contributions to cryptocurrencies. He believes that Buterin, unlike the economists he might have thought of, “actually did something in the field of monetary economics” and contributed to the creation of “cryptocurrency theory”.
Tabbarok agreed with his co-host, noting that economists are starting to take more interest in the industry “as it has become a bigger part of the economy,” but emphasized that all of the basics of cryptocurrencies were developed by computer scientists.
He further argued that cryptocurrencies are “the design of the mechanism used in the world,” noting that Bitcoin and Ethereum are amazing examples. Tabbarok emphasized that they are working in the real world, even if years ago many would have considered it “impossible.”
Cowen also cited Vitalik Buterin’s contributions, questioning what else would be required for the Ethereum founder’s candidacy to be considered:
Vitalik built a platform, created a currency, you could say, disproved Mises’s regression theorem in the process, following in Satoshi’s footsteps, of course, but my God, what does someone have to do to win a Nobel Prize?
Ethereum Founder’s Reward Case
The economist also highlighted the network’s performance, noting ETH’s market valuation worth hundreds of billions of dollars. At the time of writing, Ethereum is the largest network by total value locked (TVL), with $45.9 billion and a lead of 57.4%.
Meanwhile, according to CoinMarketCap Data, the market capitalization of ETH, the second largest cryptocurrency powering the Ethereum ecosystem, is almost $293 billion.
Adding to Buterin’s argument, Tabbarok pointed out that the Ethereum founder has continuously contributed to the design of the network’s mechanisms, moving from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS).
The economist thought it was a remarkable feat to keep the grid running while making the change. “Have you ever seen those videos of those guys in Saudi Arabia where they change the tires on the car while the car is moving? That’s what Ethereum did. Amazing,” Tabbarok said.
Cowen also argued that Buterin’s contributions to monetary economics are noteworthy because they surpass those of other economists on many related topics: “There is no economist who has anything better to say on the topics on which he writes. And I think this is very valuable in this context.”
To make their case for the Ethereum founder’s candidacy, economists highlighted Buterin’s charitable work, citing his numerous cryptocurrency donations worth millions of dollars to various charities.
The economist briefly joined the ongoing debate about the whereabouts of Bitcoin’s creator. Tabbarok suggested that Satoshi Nakamoto should have received the Nobel Prize in Economics, but stated that he did not see that as a possibility because Nakamoto was probably dead.
Ultimately, Cowen debunked his colleague’s theory about Bitcoin’s creator status, but agreed he wouldn’t receive the reward because he “didn’t think it could be given to someone who couldn’t be identified.”
Ethereum (ETH) is trading at $2,435 in the three-day chart. Source: ETHUSDT on TradingView
Featured image from The Novel York Times, chart from TradingView.com
