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BIS Study on Currencies Challenges Bitcoin’s Longevity Argument
A Bank for International Settlements (BIS) study of 568 currencies has been interpreted as evidence that crypto challenges government currencies. The BIS study, however, does not mention Bitcoin. The data comes from BIS Working Paper 1392, released on November 6, 2026, which tracks the lifespans of currencies from 1850 to 2026. The paper found that approximately 70% of the currencies in its database have been discontinued, with economic reasons being the usual cause. The BIS itself remains skeptical of crypto as money, as evidenced by a paper titled 'Money and the architecture of trust' published a few weeks earlier. This paper, written by Iñaki Aldasoro and released on October 14, 2026, places Bitcoin outside the core architecture that, in its view, makes money work at scale, including a central-bank anchor and credit elasticity.