Skip to main content
Have a personal or library account? Click to login
Bitcoin, Dynamic Efficiency, and The Economic Limits of “Nakamoto Trust”: An Austrian Reappraisal of Budish’s Argument Cover

Bitcoin, Dynamic Efficiency, and The Economic Limits of “Nakamoto Trust”: An Austrian Reappraisal of Budish’s Argument

By:   
Open Access
|Aug 2026

References

  1. Bastiat, F. (1850/2011): That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen. In The Bastiat Collection (2nd ed., pp. 1-48). Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute.
  2. Batten, D. (n.d.): BEEST (Bitcoin Energy & Emissions Sustainability Tracker). https://batcoinz.com/beest/ (accessed February 25, 2026).
  3. Böhme, R., Christin, N., Edelman, B., and Moore, T. (2015): “Bitcoin: Economics, technology, and governance.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 29(2), 213-238.
  4. Budish, E. (2018): “The economic limits of Bitcoin and the blockchain.” NBER Working Paper No. 24717. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/papers/w24717 (accessed February 25, 2026).
  5. Budish, E. (2025): “Trust at scale: The economic limits of cryptocurrencies and blockchains.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 140(1), 1-62.
  6. Carter, N. (2021): “Noahbjectivity on Bitcoin mining: A response to Noah Smith” (March 29). https://medium.com/@niccarter/noahbjectivity-on-bitcoin-mining-2052226310cb (accessed February 25, 2026).
  7. de Vries, A. (2018): “Bitcoin’s growing energy problem.” Joule, 2(5), 801-805.
  8. Garratt, R.J., and van Oordt, M.R.C. (2020): “Why fixed costs matter for proof-of-work-based cryptocurrencies.” Staff Working Paper 2020-27. Ottawa: Bank of Canada. https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2020/07/staff-working-paper-2020-27/ (accessed February 25, 2026).
  9. Garrison, R. W. (1992): “The costs of a gold standard.” In Rockwell, L. H., Jr. (ed.): The Gold Standard: Perspectives in the Austrian School (pp. 61-80). Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute.
  10. Graf, K. S. (2013): “On the origins of Bitcoin: Stages of monetary evolution.” https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5720adbd-c6fc0891cbcce17c/t/580d685959cc689a7b411ba4/1477275058522/On+the+Origins+of+Bitcoin+Graf+03.11.13.pdf (accessed February 25, 2026).
  11. Hasu, Prestwich, J., and Curtis, B. (2019): “A model for Bitcoin’s security and the declining block subsidy (v1.06).” https://uncommoncore.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/A-model-for-Bitcoins-security-and-the-declining-block-subsidy-v1.06.pdf (accessed February 25, 2026).
  12. Huerta de Soto, J. (1998/2016): Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles. Madrid: Unión Editorial.
  13. Huerta de Soto, J. (2009): The Theory of Dynamic Efficiency. Oxfordshire: Routledge.
  14. Köhler, S., and Pizzol, M. (2019): “Life cycle assessment of Bitcoin mining.” Environmental Science & Technology, 53(23), 13598–13606.
  15. Krause, M.J., and Tolaymat, T. (2018): “Quantification of energy and carbon costs for mining cryptocurrencies”. Nature Sustainability, 1, 711-718.
  16. Kroll, J.A., Davey, I.C., and Felten, E.W. (2013): “The economics of Bitcoin mining, or Bitcoin in the presence of adversaries.” Twelfth Workshop on the Economics of Information Security (WEIS).
  17. Narayanan, A., Bonneau, J., Felten, E., Miller, A., and Goldfeder, S. (2016): Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  18. Oasis Team (2018): “Response to economic limits of Bitcoin and the blockchain by Eric Budish.” https://medium.com/@oasiscryptow-onderland/response-to-budish-paper-economic-limits-of-bitcoin-and-the-blockchain-79908f3d9899 (accessed February 25, 2026).
  19. Rochard, P. (2023): “Fractional reserve carbon accounting is an attack on Bitcoin mining” (March 20). https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/carbon-accounting-attacks-bitcoin-mining (accessed February 25, 2026).
  20. Rockwell, L. H., Jr. (ed.) (1992): The Gold Standard: Perspectives in the Austrian School. Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute.
  21. Saylor, M. (n.d.): “Bitcoin mining and the environment.” https://www.michael.com/en/resources/bitcoin-mining-and-the-en-vironment (accessed February 25, 2026).
  22. Serrano, J. (2025): Bitcoin as Sound Money: An Interpretation of Bitcoin in Light of the Austrian School of Economics. Doctoral dissertation, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos.
  23. Stoll, C., Klaaßen, L., and Gallersdörfer, U. (2019): “The carbon footprint of Bitcoin.” Joule, 3(7), 1647-1661.
  24. Vranken, H. (2017): “Sustainability of Bitcoin and blockchains.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 28, 1-9.
Language: Spanish, English
Page range: 345 - 374
Submitted on: Dec 11, 2025
Accepted on: Mar 5, 2026
Published on: Aug 13, 2026
Published by: Unión Editorial S.A. in collaboration with the Faculty of Economics and Entrepreneurial Sciences of Universidad Rey Juan Carlos of Madrid
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

© 2026 Joel Serrano, published by Unión Editorial S.A. in collaboration with the Faculty of Economics and Entrepreneurial Sciences of Universidad Rey Juan Carlos of Madrid
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License.