“People are uncomfortable with bitcoin because it represents changing one of the fundamental ancient technologies of civilization – money. We’ve only changed that technology four or five times in the history of human civilization. We’ve gone from bare bones barter system – ‘here’s a goat, give me three chickens,’ to systems of precious metals and other nice objects (feathers, shells, etc.), to exclusively precious metals, and then on to precious metals stamped with the faces of kings. And then at some point, around the 15th century, you start seeing certificates of deposit for very precious metals being exchanged - paper notes, ‘I have a deposit of gold here, I’m now going to move the gold from my deposit to your deposit. I’ll just give you the piece of paper that says you’re now the owner’ – paper money is introduced. Then plastic in the 1950s diners club, travelers checks, and then the first credit cards. Do you think each transition was smooth?” - Andreas Antonopoulos 9/7/2016
