commentary Bitcoin may not last, but crypto-currency is here to stay — it’s only a matter of time before a government replaces paper with more traceable, secure digital money. But is that a good thing?
Is this the future of money?
The interesting thing about Bitcoin isn’t what it is today. What’s interesting is that this experiment is turning into a serious proving ground for the idea of “crypto-currency,” digitally created currency protected by powerful cryptography.
Crypto-currency is traceable, more portable than paper money, and harder to steal. If the Bitcoin experiment proves successful, how soon will a government or other regime develop, back, and distribute crypto-currency as a true alternative currency?
My money, paper or virtual, says that day is coming.
A particularly evolved regime could officially back a crypto-currency, issue some basic standards and regulations for use, and then continue to allow it to be community mined and distributed. You’d get the security benefits of decentralized production, the peer-to-peer buy-in of a barter currency, and none of the printing costs or insecurity of paper.
On the other hand, a particularly devolved regime could do all those things but use the digital power of the currency to spy on its users, control or corrupt the flow of currency, or implement the tech insecurely and disrupt the global economy. A major move to crypto-currency could go either way, but I bet it’s coming, nevertheless.
First, let’s get past the crypto-currency and Bitcoin objections. This technology is here to stay — so let’s take the arguments point by point.
