English | EN 
Bitcoin is big news. The digital cryptocurrency is on the frontpage of every major newspaper. People compare the bitcoin rage with the tulip mania, they call it a new ponzischeme. The digital valuta is only invented to support criminal activity. But guess what, bitcoin is not about the currency, that is just a small part of the whole story.
The story of bitcoin is complex. In this research paper we hope to explain that the bitcoin currency itself is ‘just’ the next phase in the evolution of money. From dumb to smart money. It’s the underlying platform, the Bitcoin protocol aka Bitcoin 2.0, that holds the real transformative power.
That is where the revolution starts. According to our research there are several reasons why this new technology is going to disrupt our economy and society as we have never experienced before:
- Similar to when the TCP/IP, HTTP and SMTP protocols were still in their infancy; the Bitcoin protocol is currently in a similar evolutionary stage. Contrary to the early days of the internet, when only a few people had a computer, nowadays everybody has a supercomputer in it’s pocket. It’s Moore’s Law all over again. Bitcoin is going to disrupt the economy and society with breathtaking speed. Bitcoin will alter the world even more as the Internet.
- For the first time in history technology makes it possible to transfer property rights (such as shares, certificates, digital money, etc.) fast, transparent and very secure. Moreover, these transactions can take place without the involvement of a trusted intermediary such as a government, notary, or bank. Companies and governments are no longer needed as the “middle man” in all kinds of financial agreements.
- Not only does The Internet of Things give machines a digital identity, the bitcoin API’s (machine-machine interfaces) gives them an economic identity as well. Next to people and corporations, machines will become a new type of agent in the economy.
- The Bitcoin protocol flips automation upside down. From now on automation within companies can start top down, making the white- collar employees obsolete. Corporate missions can be encoded on top of the protocol. Machines can manage a corporation all by themselves. Bitcoin introduces the world to the new nature of the firm: the Distributed Autonomous Corporation (DAC).
- This new type of corporation also adds a new perspective to the discussion on technological unemployment. The DAC might even turn technological unemplyment into structural unemployment.
- Bitcoin is key to the success of the Collaborative Economy. Bitcoin enables a frictionless and transparent way of sharing ideas, media, products, services and technology between people without the interference of corporations and governments. Bitcoin is about freedom. Bitcoin is capitalism 2.0.
Is your business ready to be disrupted? Are you?
