What credit unions should know about bitcoin and blockchain

Not a day goes by where you don’t read or hear news about bitcoin and/or blockchain.  One expert in the payments world likens bitcoin to the Kardashians, the reality show stars who manage to keep themselves in the headlines even if there is nothing new to report.  Without question, bitcoin and blockchain are the darlings of the financial and business media. What follows in this article is background and insight on bitcoin, the crypto currency, its relationship to the blockchain, and reasons why credit unions in the United States need not stay awake at night worrying about bitcoin.

In our second article, to be published on The Payments Review at a later date, we will take a much deeper look into the intriguing and complex world of the blockchain distributed ledger technology and why credit unions will want to keep an eye on it.

Bitcoin and the Blockchain 101

Bitcoin and its related Blockchain network was started in 2009 by an unknown person who goes by the alias Satoshi Nakamoto (although many are now coming forward to take credit). It is one of more than 669 known cryptocurrencies in the world.  First, we should define bitcoin and blockchain separately.

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