There is a lot of, justified and unjustified, hype around cryptocurrencies right now. I believe that to truly understand a technology one must seek to understand the ideals which stood behind creation of said technology; more concretely, it is not enough to understand the technology itself – the intent with which the technology was created matters as much as the manifestation of the technology.
Take, for instance, the Internet; it is deeply ingrained in modern culture. The Internet was, at least in part, created with the ideals of the “hippie” culture of the sixties. Cryptocurrencies (or Bitcoin for those less involved in the community) take root in similar soil. At their core, these two intertwined technologies embody the same intent; equality.
The Internet played an integral role in decoupling the monopoly on information which was horded by the accumulated wealth and power of familial and institutional dynasties over thousands of years. I believe the reason the Internet was able to do this was because it was designed to do this. Consider this: the Internet had to fight an incredibly uphill battle; the rules were all designed by those who had the most to lose – the phone companies. Even with the deck stacked against it, the Internet still was able to permeate society on such a fundamental level that it has literally enabled revolutions.
A similar pattern is emerging in the cryptocurrency space. Even though those with the most to lose (the banks) feel as though they are able to control and prevent this financial revolution based on decentralized trust; the truth is they can’t. Cryptocurrencies allow people to operate outside the purview of these masses of consolidated power who claim to represent the opinions of many. And the beauty of it is that the banks have fucked themselves.
Cheers,
Adam
