Abstract
Money symbolizes value. In 2008, an anonymous computer programmer wrote open-source code that created the increasingly popular virtual currency, Bitcoin, free of government regulation, identification of buyers and sellers, and middlemen fees (Grinberg, 2011; Vigna & Casey, 2015). People can download the software to “mine” Bitcoins (Popper, 2015) and create their own virtual currencies (e.g., Ramos, 2014; Ward, 2014). Bitcoin is valuable for its ease of use, instantaneous international transfer of funds, and stability in countries with weak financial or property rights systems (Ember, 2015; Yu, 2014). And its own dollar value, perhaps surprisingly, temporarily skyrocketed (Phillips, 2013).
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© 2016 Seana Moran and Yonathan Bassal
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Bassal, Y. (2016). Virtual Currency. In: Ethical Ripples of Creativity and Innovation. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137505545_23
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