BITCOIN AND DISRUPTIVE CURRENCIES
by Ross Schulman
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http://www.project-disco.org/competition/bitcoin-and-disruptive-currencies/Having the network as a whole manage this process means that a central arbiter is not required.
This simple fact makes Bitcoin potentially incredibly disruptive to a number of financially centered industries. Credit cards, Western Union, and companies like Paypal exist because of the fact that it is hard to transfer money over the Internet cheaply and securely. Bitcoin, to the extent that it is usable, completely changes that regime.