A lively afternoon debate of some of the top minds in business, finance, technology, and law left its hitherto bitcoin-friendly audience with some serious FUD: fear, uncertainty, doubt. The Manhattan Institute’s Adam Smith Society—a group of free market-advocating MBA students and business people—hosted the lively debate Saturday with Intelligence Squared U.S. at its national meeting. The proposition, “Bitcoin is more than a bubble and here to stay,” was supported by legendary venture capitalist Tim Draper and Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne. On the opposition side was Financial Times U.S. managing editor Gillian Tett and University of Chicago law professor Eric Posner. Going into the discussion, a slim plurality (39 percent) of…
ABC's John Donvan and the winning side of the debate (FT's Gillian Tett and University of Chicago's Eric Posner) at The Manhattan Institute’s Adam Smith Society's national meeting (Photo by Brendan Sullivan for Modern Consensus).