Bitcoin is currently the most popular cryptocurrency. The problem bitcoin is trying to solve is an important one faced by many people across the world. Leo Tolstoy said, “money is a new form of slavery.” By controlling money, vast power is wielded in today’s world. The enormous amount of money in circulation is primarily controlled by bankers and they wield the powers of inflation and currency debasing as methods of increasing and controlling product prices throughout the economy (Donk, 2017).
Centralized and institutional control of currency is the problem bitcoin is trying to solve. Bitcoin, like many other cryptocurrencies, gives power to the people using the cryptocurrency as they do not require authorities in a centralized system to do business and make purchases. By being peer to peer (P2P) and decentralized it lets people trade without having the rules of the transaction dictated by third parties. Cryptocurrency enables users to act anonymously and this removes power traditionally held by financial institutions.