A question we sometimes get from students in our class here at UC Berkeley is: why use Bitcoin? After all, we’ve seen that it’s slow, it’s redundant, it’s inefficient. Banks are so much more convenient! While we’ve mainly been focusing on how Bitcoin works, we’ll be taking a step back and understanding why Bitcoin is the way it is. We will examine the cultural, political, and technological influences that drove the development of cryptocurrencies.
As we’ll see, Bitcoin didn’t just pop up out of nowhere. Understanding its historical background and numerous failed predecessors will give us a deeper understanding of Bitcoin. From there, we’ll explore the present-day state of the blockchain space, including various new cryptocurrencies inspired by Bitcoin along with how blockchain technology has diverged from its origins in Bitcoin.
This journey will take us from the Cypherpunks, who hated big banks and championed privacy and power for individuals, to adoption of blockchain technology by JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest banking institutions in the United States.