Abstract The article aims to bring to light the limits and contradictions of cryptocurrencies, as well as to investigate possible alternative uses of them. Particularly focusing on Bitcoin, understood as a benchmark for the entire sector, the authors seek to answer the following questions: Should Bitcoin be considered a currency, an investment vehicle, or a speculative asset? On which factors does Bitcoin volatility depend? Do Central Banks effectively have no power to influence/stabilize Bitcoin volatility? Following the empirical strategy proposed by Baek and Elbeck, the article shows that Bitcoin returns merely depend on financial conventions and that the cryptocurrency is acting as a highly speculative asset. Sociotechnical innovations introduced by Bitcoin, the authors argue, have concretely opened the possibility of deeply rethinking money. However, several factors are currently negatively affecting the possibility of the cryptocurrency to function as an effective means of payment. Whether this experience can pave the way for the birth of new and more democratic monetary instruments, as the article discusses, is an issue that calls into question a whole combination of political, technical and social elements.

中文翻译：

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加密货币、货币政策和新形式的货币主权

摘要 本文旨在揭示加密货币的局限性和矛盾，并研究它们的可能替代用途。作者特别关注作为整个行业基准的比特币，试图回答以下问题：比特币应该被视为一种货币、一种投资工具还是一种投机资产？比特币波动取决于哪些因素？中央银行是否实际上无权影响/稳定比特币的波动？遵循 Baek 和 Elbeck 提出的实证策略，文章表明比特币的回报仅取决于金融惯例，并且加密货币是一种高度投机的资产。作者认为，比特币引入的社会技术创新具体开启了深度反思货币的可能性。然而，目前有几个因素对加密货币作为有效支付手段的可能性产生负面影响。正如本文所讨论的，这种经验能否为新的、更民主的货币工具的诞生铺平道路，这是一个对政治、技术和社会因素的整体结合提出质疑的问题。