The technologies that stick
around are ones that empower people to do stuff. Which is another
way of saying:
Viva Bitcoin!:
Something that allows individuals to spend money however they
want isn’t going away anytime soon. Just like we did with computer
viruses, hacks, and a host of other once-seemingly cataclysmic
issues, bitcoin’s users will figure out all sorts of ways to deal
with theft, scams, and worse. The fixes will never be perfect, the
patches and updates will be ongoing, and an alternative system may
well supplant bitcoin, but what else is new in digital culture,
right? As Veronique de Rugy suggested last November, it’s worth
thinking about bitcon as “the Napster of the payment industry.” The
specific platform is far less important than the forces it
unleashes.
That’s from my latest Daily Beast column, which argues that
bitcoin (or something very much like it) is here to stay despite
the collapse of Japan-based exchange Mt. Gox and intensifying
attempts by governments to regulate or ban the cryptocurrency. On
that latter point:
If the U.S.—not to mention any and all other governments around
the globe—squeeze too hard, the hive mind that is constantly
building, repairing, and revising bitcoin’s protocol will skip town
one way or another. They—we—don’t want bitcoin per se. We want
something like bitcoin that allows for greater freedom, reduced
transaction costs, greater anonymity, and perfect accounting
transparency. As long that need is there, it will be served.
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