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Is Bitcoin Fungible?

The reason I ask is I've just been reading the latest book by Dave Birch and Victoria Richardson (a good read if you're a money nerd like me). In it, they postulate that Bitcoin can't be money because each one is unique and hence, not 'fungible'. For example, in the UK, the High Court has ruled that Bitcoin is digital property, and, as such is capable of being the subject of a proprietary injunction against an exchange. In other words, an exchange will be obliged to identify the owner of any stolen coins and the owner can be legally pursued to recover the stolen coins even if they didn't know that the Bitcoin they bought were stolen.

I would argue that is no less Fungible than the physical pound or dollar in yours or my pocket. Thoughts 💭?

#asknostr

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Discussion

Joss 1y ago

nostr:npub14s0sy96lqn7vl0vdj59e2pjnnsgvlneds6ws6sjy89cwg8ck3zvqhm3x2dTheir argument is that some UTXO are less substitutional than others because they have been used for and can be traced to criminal purposes

mike 1y ago

Runes say no

Bitcoin is debatable.

A $20 dollar bill is supposedly fungible, but each bill has a serial number and could theoretically be identified as stolen or used in crime, so the lack of fungibility argument can even be made for cash.