"One assumed truism is that the world must operate with centralized power structures. Tribes, kingdoms, empires, nation-states; we experimented with them all. And armies, religions, universities, corporations, financial exchanges, central banks. Atop each sits a King or Queen, President or Pope, choose your title, the function holds. Naturally, we have various methods of selecting leaders, and ways to empower or restrain them.

We’ve also explored a variety of structures to distribute economic output. Feudalism, capitalism, socialism, communism. Some believe passionately in one or the other, but we all accept the broad structure because we assume the world cannot operate at scale without a central authority, a clearinghouse to mediate our disputes, set our standards, define domestic laws, international too. And enforce them. It is hard to imagine a world without centralized authority.

But for the first time in human history, a new technology allows us to build decentralized accounting systems we can all trust. This is a stunning breakthrough upon which entirely new governance systems can be built. Bitcoin was the pioneer. Its success has spawned countless new applications, some more decentralized than others. The innovation has barely just begun and now attracts the brightest young minds across the world, allowing them to think about new, more inclusive ways to organize. Venture capital has followed. Speculators. The frenzy itself is breathtaking."