How bitcoin illustrates the idea of a liquidity premium

On November 15 @ 5:37 PM, Wordpress.com tweeted that it would be accepting bitcoin as payment. Over the next twenty-four hours, the price of bitcoin steadily rose on Mt. Gox, the major bitcoin exchange. See chart below.

This is a great illustration of the idea of a liquidity premium.

All assets carry a liquidity premium. This premium will be smaller or larger depending on an asset's ability to be easily bought and sold, or its liquidity. The idea of liquidity is straight from Carl Menger, who figured things out back in 1872 (pdf). Keynes also knew this, read Chapter 17 of the General Theory. (This is one of those great examples of Austrians and Keynesians agreeing). Other words for liquidity include saleability and marketability. In short, the more marketable an asset, the larger its liquidity premium, which in turn means a higher price. Illiquid assets have small premiums and lower prices.

In announcing the acceptance of bitcoin, Wordpress has added yet another avenue for the use of bitcoin. And Wordpress is not just any old site. According to Alexa, Wordpress.com is the world's 22nd in terms of traffic. Bitcoin is now more liquid, and as a result, its liquidity premium has increased by about 75 cents.

Why is liquidity worth something? The future is uncertain. Knowing that an asset you own can be readily sold should the need arise provides you with a degree of comfort. Thus liquidity shields you from the displeasure of uncertainty, and since highly liquid assets do more shielding than illiquid ones, you'll have to pay a larger premium for that benefit.

So with the Wordpress announcement, bitcoin has become a slightly better hedge against uncertainty. What happens if other large venues start accepting bitcoin? Bitcoin up.

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