This episode is brief and covers the essential differences between using blockchain-backed money (like Bitcoin) and using paper-backed money. For those who only know of Bitcoin from the Bitcoin mass media hype of 2017, and now the Bitcoin ‘crash’ of 2018: this one minute 30 second episode was made for you.

Audio length 00:01:24

Episode 3: Show Notes

Jackson Palmer, the creator of Dogecoin — the alt-coin that uses the Shiba Inu as its logo and which was originally introduced as nothing more than a joke currency — wrote an article recently published by Vice on the current state of cryptocurrency. Below are quotes from his post that I’ve pulled together to go along with Episode 3 of this podcast. Palmer’s post helped re-awaken many readers to a more essential perspective that cuts through the panic-mania now inherently and unfortunately implied by anything with the word ‘crypto’ in its name.

“In 2013, the vision for the future of cryptocurrencies seemed relatively clear: To deliver a peer-to-peer alternative to cash that, through decentralization, did away with the need for trust in financial institutions, which the 2008 crisis showed to be unscrupulous, and often corrupt. Bitcoin, which ignited the cryptocurrency movement in 2009, brought real technical innovation to the table in achieving this vision. Back then, I hoped that through the power of community, a project such as Dogecoin may help drive further awareness of and innovation in that technology.

However, as I quickly learned, a passionate community of people throwing around money is like blood in the water to the shark-like scammers and opportunists who, in late 2014, co-opted the Dogecoin community and fleeced its members for millions of dollars. I saw the space being overrun by opportunists looking to make a buck, rather than people investing in evolving the technology (which, even back then, we knew was facing real technical issues.) Over the following two years, I monitored the space from afar. What I noticed was a shift away from developing the core technology powering these networks to churning out shiny new projects that shoehorned in “blockchain” wherever possible.”