ACINQ

20 years ago, economist and Nobel-prize winner Milton Friedman predicted the invention of "a reliable e-cash". Bitcoin is actually much more than that! Not only does it allow the transfer of digital property without trusted third parties (a truly amazing feature), it is also open, censorship resistant and extraordinarily resilient.

Most importantly, Bitcoin brought permissionless innovation to the world of finance. This is why its technology is so disruptive, and it is where the whole Blockchain buzz comes from.

In the past 8 years, Bitcoin has seen a growing number of competitors. How and why did Bitcoin stay relevant? Because despite all the buzz and marketing fantasies around the blockchain, the community always remained attached to what makes Bitcoin valuable: security and decentralization. Taking the time to think and do things the right way has been seen by many as stalling, but this is how Bitcoin avoided catastrophic failures like Ethereum's DAO hack and subsequent hard fork. What's the point of moving fast if it comes at the price of losing what makes you valuable in the first place?

In the meantime, the Bitcoin community has been hard at work. In fact, Bitcoin has never been in a better shape and its future looks very promising! There are more cryptographers and security experts working on Bitcoin that any other altcoin. Many improvements have been made on the protocol in the past months, and even more are around the corner: confidential transactions, sidechains, and of course the Lightning Network. And, needless to say, Bitcoin has never been hacked.

This is why Bitcoin is more relevant than ever.