Bitcoin is important, and it’s worth taking some time to understand.

Bitcoin decentralizes a number of mechanisms that previously have required a central authority in order to function. What this means is that the network of miners and users actually control the rules of the money they’re using, which, in my view, is the most perfect democratic system you could ever imagine. — Olaf Carlson-Wee, Head of Risk at Coinbase

Bitcoin isn’t just a currency. It’s also a protocol that is transforming the way we exchange value.

Currency can be defined as a store of value, a unit of account, and a medium of exchange. The protocol is focused on the transmission mechanism, which allows two parties that don’t necessarily trust each other to safely transact for the first time in history.

Bitcoin has huge potential as a way to transport value. It’s surprisingly difficult to move money today, and the experience of paying for something online is just about the only part of the internet that hasn’t changed dramatically in the past twenty years.
-Greg Brockman, CTO of Stripe (quote taken from this blog post)

Intrigued? Here are a couple compelling use cases being worked on today.

Remittances
One major use case is remittances. It’s a market of over $500bn, and one which costs poorer countries up to $16bn annually in fees and restrictive practices [source]. Brian Gamido is an entrepreneur building a solution for the Philippines, a country where he says remittances make up an alarming 10–11% of the GDP and where a third of the population lives under the poverty line.

Micropayments
Another potentially huge use case is micropayments. Ever wanted to tip someone a few cents for a cool DIY video or a helpful article? This actually isn’t possible with the existing financial infrastructure. Nick Tomaino, Business Development Manager at Coinbase, explains how bitcoin’s underlying technology paves the way for a new type of consumer behavior.

This is just the beginning!

Bitcoin is the most successful implementation of blockchain technology to date, but we’re still early and there’s plenty of innovation to come. Whether it’s through alternative networks like Ethereum or an extension of bitcoin via sidechains, we now have the technology to reimagine a number of industries from the ground up. (Some ideas worth reading from Chris Dixon and Adam Ludwin.)

This is transformative. This is something that can make all of our lives much easier… some really amazing things could happen to our society.
-Tim Draper, Founder of Draper University, Draper Associates, and DFJ

Interested in learning more?

Of course you are! I’m no expert, but here are some resources I would recommend:

• Ready to dive right in? Read Satoshi’s white paper!
• For beginners, check out Draper University’s free Bitcoin Course (especially if you liked the video clips from this post). Also, this post and all of the videos listed in this post.
• Hang out on Zapchain, a community for Bitcoin professionals.
• Read anything Nick Szabo has ever written — not all related to Bitcoin, but trust me, it’s worth it.