Contemporary IPE Issue: Virtual Currency Social Research Paper

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Contemporary IPE Issue: Virtual Currency
Introduction
The Arab oil embargo of 1973 by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) enlightened the Intellectual Entrepreneurs (IE). The United States' dependence on foreign oil-producing countries came to haunt them because of its political and military affiliation to Israeli, an enemy of the OPEC nations. The economic and foreign policy crises that befall the U.S and the OPEC countries following the embargo became an eye-opener to the I.E.s of that time. They reconsidered the premature concept of the International Political Economy. IPE field seeks to bridge the gaps in the political and economic domains that come about because of the complex interdependence of world economies that has since become influenced by politics and foreign policies (Cohen 17). The pioneers of IPE left enduring legacies on the interdependence of the two contrasting domains.
As the world comes of age, the human race creates political, social, and economic institutions that continue to validate IPE's concept and significance. Many issues are surrounding IPE, but the idea of a virtual economy resonates well with globalization that seeks to facilitate seamless communication and transactions without having to bother about the constraints of international policies. Virtual economy is accomplished by using virtual money that is enhanced with the disruptive technologies of the 21st century, blockchain, to be specific. The cryptocurrencies that have not been accepted as legal tender by any monetary authority or the central banks in the world continue to provide stiff competition to the traditional fiat currency, even with the many shortcomings associated with them the world-leading economists. On the flip side, there has been tremendous achievement with cryptocurrencies. This begs the question, should the economic and political classes down their tools in denouncing the cryptocurrencies and accept them as legal tender with strict regulation or do away with them completely?
Virtual Currencies
Virtual currency is subject to varied definitions depending on the monetary authority and economic principle one has subscribed to. The bottom-line of the diversified definition is that V.C.s represent value digitally and can be transferred from one place to the other electronically without the monetary institutions or policies (Dabrowski and Janikowski 13). V.C.s fall short of the formal definition of money basically because of its inability to act as a store of value and has fewer merchant's trading and accepting it as a means of payment compared to the traditional money (Dabrowski and Janikowski 13). V.C. is highly volatile, further increasing the risks of plunging the stakeholders into an economic crisis that stable currencies seek to address. Most V.C.s rely on cryptographic and blockchain technologies in the development and transaction. Thus the term cryptocurrencies are commonly associated with the wide range of V.C.s available in the market today.
V.C.'s potential to substitute wholly the formally accepted means of payment while bypassing the monetary regulations imposed by the different financial institutions globally because of its anonymity a...