Dear Readers,
Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and blockchain have left an indelible mark on our world. From the recesses of a cypherpunk mailing list, these new technologies have exploded into humanity’s consciousness to change the way we think about information, finance, sovereignty, and much more.
Without a doubt, cryptocurrency and related technologies are becoming mainstream. Massive corporations have begun to buy Bitcoin in bulk. And even conventional companies are starting to get involved in the more unconventional parts of the market. Who could have imagined, for example, that Visa would purchase a popular NFT (“Non-Fungible Token”) from the “CryptoPunk” series?
Such is the world that we now live in and these developments lend further credence to the fact that cryptocurrency and blockchain are not going away. As a result, the announcement from the credit card giant Mastercard last week that it had agreed to purchase a blockchain intelligence company likely didn’t come as a huge surprise. Just business as usual as traditional finance and blockchain-based finance continue to bridge the gap that currently exists between them.
