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Adam Back and Balaji Srinivasan join the “Bitcoin Magazine Podcast” to reflect back on the early days of Bitcoin and focus on how Bitcoin adoption is currently accelerating.
Srinivasan takes a look at the global picture when he says, “I think it’s clear we’re seeing Bitcoin adoption in Nigeria, in India and around the world. South America really didn’t need that much prompting to get it [Bitcoin] because currency crises were a common thing there, they still are a common thing.” He recognizes why people in those countries have been quicker to grasp the problem that Bitcoin solves.
It can be surprising to see how far Bitcoin has come in such a short period of time. Srinivasan says, “In terms of Bitcoin’s role in the world: on one level, you have to step back and realize that this thing was sub-1 billion and was just the dream of some people on a message board, and now, it has influenced every government in the world.”
Back’s Hashcash was referenced in the Bitcoin whitepaper, so he’s been an integral part of Bitcoin from the beginning. In reflecting back to the early days of Bitcoin, Back shares, “It does seem that the adoption is being fostered and, sort of, gained acceptance with a wider array of players than we would’ve expected.”
Back discusses the multitudes of announcements from institutions releasing products, governments clarifying regulations and city governments creating policies to bring development to their region. “I think it’s a phenomenon of open networks. Open networks can innovate faster because they’re permissionless.” He mentions that the pace of innovation is much faster than even the internet. It will be interesting to see the rate at which adoption grows in the next few years.