# Professor David Yermack explains why bitcoin is unlikely to replace national currencies

1 Faculty News April 19, 2017 ![Vocativ logo 192 x 144](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/assets/images/vocativ192x144.jpg?itok=1oJlHl1I)>

Excerpt from [Vocativ](http://www.vocativ.com/415313/can-bitcoin-step-in-and-save-a-failing-state/) -- "'\[T\]he worldwide value of all bitcoins is only about $20 billion,' says [David Yermack](http://www.stern.nyu.edu/faculty/bio/david-yermack), professor of finance at NYU Stern School of Business. '\[That’s\] not nearly enough to be an alternative to the sovereign currency in a country of any size.'"

[Read more](http://www.vocativ.com/415313/can-bitcoin-step-in-and-save-a-failing-state/)