Our financial system is tangled up with extra costs, hidden fees, unpredictable wait times and infuriating delays. Is Bitcoin the innovation that will finally take friction out of the system and free our money?
The history of money is riddled with crises, followed by innovation that transforms the monetary system. In 17th century England, a coinage crisis triggered a loss in trust in the money’s value. To restore that trust, Goldsmiths stepped in as intermediaries—and became England’s unlikely first bankers. Today, transferring money requires a plethora of intermediaries to verify transactions in a system that’s full of friction. Enter the next innovation: Bitcoin. Can it remove friction from the system and build trust?