It’s therefore more likely that some variation on Microsoft’s “ embrace, extend, and extinguish” policy towards competing open source products will be attempted, or the creation of a direct competitor to Bitcoin in the form of a central bank-controlled digital currency. However, direct opposition to Bitcoin would likely raise too many questions in the public mind. It’s unlikely that such a group would simply consent to their own replacement. This group has far more power to resist competition than horse breeders and carriage manufacturers had to resist the rise of the automobile. Should Bitcoin truly become as commonplace as paper money or credit cards, that situation would represent a tremendous loss of control for the world’s central banks and all their allies.
While it’s reasonable to expect cheaper and more convenient technologies to replace obsolete ones – as cars replaced horse-drawn carriages – it’s unreasonable to discount the existence of the fiat money establishment. Such expectations appear tinged with complacency and naivety. In a recent survey conducted by YouGov, it was revealed that one in five Britons expect that Bitcoin will be “as common as cash or card” in the future: Although still poorly-understood, Bitcoin is widely regarded as new and advanced, and therefore regarded as an almost inevitable part of our monetary future.
These interpretations reveal that, as a culture, we assume that money will be an entirely solved problem in future.īitcoin certainly fits neatly into this view of the future. If the money is in digital form, then some apparently effortless and instant payment occurs, often with no explanation of the underlying system. To pay for the sci-fi equivalent of a latte (a synthcaf?) with physical money, credit chips / sticks or new and exotic compounds (gold pressed latinum, for instance) are exchanged.
No one writes checks or hands over paper bills in science fiction stories.
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