Decentralized Currencies, Digital Panhandling, Startup Governments: It’s A Cyberpunk World

Vitalik Buterin | On 21, May 2013. If anyone had any doubts that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies would ever amount to anything in this world, after the events at Bitcoin 2013 it is safe to say that most of these doubts are now gone. Roughly a thousand people were present, dozens of booths featured businesses with products of such high quality that they may be indistinguishable with something from a mainstream corporation, and the organization of the congerence itself was nearly flawless. Presentations and panel discussions featured dozens of speakers who are experts in matters of technology, business and regulation, and the topics were equally interesting; among the discussions were subjects involving cryptocurrency-based stocks, using Bitcoin for digital charity, two implementations of decentralized mixers, regulatory and security challenges and creating whole new nations.

For every conceivable application to which cryptocurrencies can be put, there are at least two projects implementing it, and for every problem with Bitcoin that still remains to be solved there are at least three projects working hard on a solution. Altogether, the conference has been almost universally applauded as a huge success. As Sean’s Outpost founder Jason King described it after the fact, the halls of Bitcoin 2013 were filled with a “hopeful energy” and excitement that he had not seen since the first conference of the World Wide Web itself.

Independently filmed videos from the conference are available on Youtube already, and the Bitcoin Foundation’s own videos will soon be available on their website. Summaries of key announcements can be found scattered throughout the internet (some content has been posted and more will be added on our own website). Here are some of the key takeaways that I personally found important: Bitcoin is being taken seriously. - Read more here: http://bitcoinmagazine.com/decentralized-currencies-digital-panhandling-startup-governments-its-a-cyberpunk-world