Colorado Academy Alumni and Parents of Alumni took a tour in the fascinating and futuristic world of cryptocurrency on March 28. Their tour guide was Nicolas Cary ’03, Founder and CEO of Blockchain.com, the world’s most popular way to buy, sell, and trade crypto. Since 2011, Blockchain.com has amassed over 80 million wallets, transacting over $1 T in cryptocurrency in over 200 countries.
If you are old enough, you might remember the familiar phrase, “You’ve got mail,” which was first heard in 1993. By the mid-1990s, the world was in the midst of an electronic and technological revolution. Think about where the internet was in 1999, and, according to Nic, that is where cryptocurrency adoption is today. The speed of current breakthroughs has no historical precedent. Thinking about how far internet technology has come since 1999, one can only imagine how pervasive cryptocurrency will be in 23 years.
To explain cryptocurrency as it relates to money we are familiar with, Nic shared principles he learned as an economics major in college. Money has always facilitated trading and been a medium of exchange for goods and services. Money must be fungible, durable, counterfeit resistant, and should be able to be divided and recombined.
Bitcoin is the best-known cryptocurrency and the one for which blockchain technology was originally invented. It is a medium of exchange, similar to paper currencies, but uses a public ledger in the cloud. Blockchain.com offers investors a wallet to store cryptocurrency, an exchange, and many other consumer and institutional products.
Originally, Nic was to be in the United States on the date of his presentation. The Alumni Association is particularly grateful to Nic, considering that he was speaking from London and had to broadcast in the middle of the night. He stayed online after the presentation to answer everyone’s questions, resulting in a 3 a.m. bedtime. Thank you, Nic!
If you were not one of the 70 plus alumni who registered for Nic’s presentation, he recommends this LINK, an introduction to cryptocurrency.