Bitcoins: Q&A
Recently I read this awesome book by Nathaniel Popper on the digital cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, titled Digital Gold . Boy, is it informative and superbly written! Why the need for a new currency? 1) Ideology : Many people in the US in particular dislike and distrust the power of governments to print money because, if done for the wrong reasons, that dilutes the worth of existing money. Now, it is one think to be wrong due to unforeseeable reasons; but let’s face it: governments mostly do wrong things because they are doing them for vested interest groups and for votes. 2) Privacy : In the West, as most transactions are via credit cards, credit card companies and banks know what you spend on. Plus, of course, the government can force both of them to share that information. 3) Experiment : For many, this was a chance to try something new, to test their software skills. For others, to understa...