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A future where bitcoin is fully adopted and accepted is a future that looks very
different from our world today. If you only consider the implications bitcoin will
bring to the banking and financial services industry, you are only looking at bitcoin
as a payment system.
Bitcoin technology will essentially allow a redesign of society where our
infrastructure for sharing information and resources will not hinge on a central
party. Our business models will become incredibly resilient and far more secure from
the breach of hacking attempts, although emphasis on information security will
increasingly become a top priority. Banking, both commercial and central, will feel
disruption to the core and will be forced to align their business models to a type of
currency which resides on a decentralized network. Many of our existing institutions
will be uprooted, some will make the necessary changes in their business models to
adapt to changing economic landscapes. Most will not.
As a still infant monetary experiment, bitcoin has seen explosive growth in
acceptance and interest worldwide. As this experiment continues to unfold, bitcoin
has the potential to usurp conventionally used currencies and become the standard
in payments. Eventually, goods and services might be priced in bitcoin instead of
being denominated in dollars, euros, or yen.
No longer will physical robberies exist, but rather thefts of the cyber domain will take
center stage. Massive heists will be possible when hackers break the cracks in poorly
developed software and the businesses which rely on them.
The need to use credit cards and divulging identification for online purchases might
soon be on its way out as well. Not only will the security of storing financial
information make a dramatic shift, but the security involved in completing a
transaction will be hastened towards methods verified through biometric
identification (a form of identification through physiological traits unique to the
individual). Previously researched forms of biometric identification include
fingerprint authentication, retina scanning, and voice tone activation. These methods
of identification will be a more efficient way of verifying our identities. However, they
will come at the cost of permanent identification through biological characteristics,
something mainstream society will view with an amount of uncertainty, yet still
partake in this transition.
Our current understanding of where bitcoin will carry society is still very convoluted.
There are no definitive directions that tell us how technology will have changed our
lives in a decade’s time. No one could have predicted with perfect accuracy the types
of applications we use today with the internet TCP/IP and DNS infrastructures built
in the early days of development. Bitcoin is a reflection of this evolution in
technology. As it now stands, the trend seems to be moving toward trustless
networks where users are empowered and responsible for their own information.
With more individual power, comes greater responsibility.
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