Catching Up to Crypto

CHAPTER 10Digital Gold Transformation: Cryptocurrencies and Crypto Assets

With communities forking off into different tribes and new blockchains launching on a regular basis, by the time that crypto winter hit in 2018, the once small and fringe Bitcoin community had grown into a full‐fledged cryptocurrency industry. However, the term “cryptocurrency” is a bit of a misnomer that has caused a lot of confusion about these markets over the years. People get the idea that the crypto industry is a big casino where traders are placing bets on one very specific vision: a future medium of exchange that will replace fiat currencies like the dollar. This is a gross oversimplification of the space that leaves out some of the most interesting innovation happening here. To be fair, degenerate gambling and poorly designed Ponzis have consumed some corners of the crypto market,¹ and the original mission of Bitcoin was to become a transactional currency accepted by retailers around the world, so it's understandable that people get confused.

Once Bitcoin got out into the wild and started developing a user base, it took on a life of its own – and it quickly became apparent that although it wasn't great as a transactional currency, it had serious utility as a store of value. Satoshi's original plan was for Bitcoin to be both a store of value and a medium of exchange, but there are a few factors that make Bitcoin inefficient as a transactional currency. Bitcoin's volatility makes it a bad unit ...