Bitcoin isn’t Money—It’s the Internet of Money

Even if you're not in the slightest bit interested in bitcoin or blockchains, you should read this, as it first explains why the Internet enabled innovation through "the abstraction of a separate “application layer.” Core Internet protocols - the “transport layer” - shuffle packets of data around, but they don’t define how the exchange of packets is then used ... applications... are defined in protocols implemented on devices at the edges of the network... Hence "Permissionless innovation means more innovation... Moving decision-making to the edges of the network also has the effect of decentralizing power...Centralized networks ... keep social power in the hands of the businesses that run—and the governments that regulate—the network.... Which brings us to Bitcoin...economists have analyzed Bitcoin ... as a substitute for dollars. This is rather like regarding the Internet as a substitute for, and not a quantum leap beyond, previous communication technologies.... [but] it is much more than a substitute: it is like a transport layer for finance.... it can be a form of generalized, programmable, decentralized contracting. Legalese gives way to Script." - Bitcoin isn’t Money—It’s the Internet of Money | The Ümlaut