Bitcoin in the News

Bitcoin in the News

Topics

•What is Bitcoin?

•Economic Statistics

•Why is Bitcoin Important?

•Final Thoughts & Question Time

What is Bitcoin?

What it is NOT•Not a company•Not centrally-controlled•Not proprietary (it is open-source)•Not bound to any location or jurisdiction

What it IS•It is a technology•It is a protocol•It is a network

What is Bitcoin?Currency

“bitcoins” or “BTC”Payment System

“Bitcoin”

Bitcoin (payment system) is a public, distributed P2P ledger used to store and transfer ownership of

bitcoins (currency).

What is Bitcoin?

What is Bitcoin? Features of the Currency

•Released over time by the network

•Regulated by mathematical algorithms

•Secured with cryptography

•Maximum of 21m bitcoins (9.5m exist currently)

•Each coin divisible to eight decimal places (1.00000000)

What is Bitcoin? Features of the Network

•Free to send

•Free to hold/store

•Borderless

•Cannot be blocked, reversed, or frozen

•Relatively private, but not anonymous

What is Bitcoin? Why Use It?

•E-Commerce (zero fee, zero chargeback)•International remittances•B2B and P2P payments•Guaranteed payments (zero-trust situations)•Micro-transactions•Hedge against inflation/debasement•Asset diversification•Speculation/Investment

What is Bitcoin? Why Use It?

Economic StatisticsThe Basics

Current Price

$11.09 USD€ 8.72 EUR£ 7.09 GBP¥ 70.35 CNY

Total bitcoins 9,911,550 BTC

Market Cap 110,414,469 USD

Transactions past 24 hrs 17,167 txs

Transactions per hour 715 txs

Volume past 24 hrs 12,488,649.94 BTC

Volume past hour 520,360.41 BTC

All-Time Transactions per Day (Jan 2009- Present)

New Bitcoin Accounts Opened (Jan 2009- Present)

Market Capitalization (Jan 2009- Present)

Why is Bitcoin Important?

The world’s first scarce digital commodity.

Why is Bitcoin Important?

The only payment system with zero counter-party risk

•No need to trust any person•No need to trust any corporation•No need to trust any bank•No need to trust any government

Why is Bitcoin Important?

Places all control and responsibility of money with the individual.

He/she may then choose to relinquish control to other parties.

Why is Bitcoin Important?

Designed for the internet age•Frictionless•Borderless•Purely digital

Lowers the cost of moving and storing money toward zero.

Why is Bitcoin Important?

Opens up vast new opportunities for efficiency in the transfer of value.

Money is half of every transaction, and money can now move without restraint or delay.

Why is Bitcoin Important?

Challenges many assumptions of money•Where does money come from?•Why is it valuable?•How much should there be?•Who should issue and control it?•What uses are permissible?•What degree of privacy is permissible?

Why is Bitcoin Important?

Controversial•Like all powerful tools, can be used for good or evil•Presents new challenges for regulators•Will force industries to adapt/evolve•Ultimately, Bitcoin is unstoppable and was inevitable

Why is Bitcoin Important?

Bitcoin’s Future•The majority of websites may accept it•Many brick & mortar stores may accept it•Banks use it as fund-transfer backbone•Small countries may adopt it•Fiat currencies may peg to it•Vast new industry of micropayments•Spawn unimaginable new businesses

Why is Bitcoin Important?

Final Thoughts•Bitcoin is a powerful, highly useful, and disruptive human technology.

•Society will utilize and adapt to it – but in what manner?

•Industry and government ought to capitalize on Bitcoin, not fight against the inevitable.

Questions?