Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains and the Future of the Internet

Bitcoin has been called one of the most disruptive technologies of our times, threatening banks and governments by building an alternative and decentralised currency system.

It attracted a lot of media attention in 2017, when a bitcoin’s value grew from less than $3000 to over $20,000 in a few short months. It was hailed as the future of money, and paraded as the perfectly anonymous currency of choice for all manner of illicit activity.

It turned out to be neither. Yet.

Like the price of gold, or oil, or Sky TV shares, the value of Bitcoin will continue to rise and fall. The blockchain, however, is a neutral source of incorruptible information. Government agencies which flailed against it because of the anonymity it allowed, either failed to understand it or fear it because of its robustness, its independence, and the fact that nothing it records is open to interpretation.

Can this technology, really provide a robust alternative to our current banking system and methods of record-keeping? Can it – and the people behind it – be trusted to keep elections secure, prevent financial meltdowns and keep our private information safe?