What is accepted as payment has changed over time, and so have the ways in which payments are made. Bitcoin, a cryptographic, blockchain-based computer protocol, represents for some just another currency to release and receive payments. For others to speculate or to diversify into an alternative asset class. The Bitcoin protocol illustrates the first prototype of a cryptographic economic system, which is organised both autonomously and distributive, without any point of central control or single point of failure. The protocol pilots the merger of cryptography and economics, where organisational operations adhere to the intractable institutions set by the protocol. More precisely, it showcased the worldwide first economic system on autopilot, which might not only change the “Nature of the Firm”, but also the nature of economic value creation and development itself, on the foundation of a more and more information systems based economy.
Roman Beck is Professor at the Business IT department at IT University of Copenhagen. He is Head of the Technology, Innovation Management & Entrepreneurship (TIME) research group and Head of the European Blockchain Center and Blockchain Summer School. Roman is Head of the Danish delegation to ISO TC 307 Blockchain & Distributed Ledger Technology standardisation group and Convenor of ISO TC 307 SG6 Blockchain Governance stand-ardization. He works as Blockchain expert for the EU commission and is member of the acatech working group that is advising the German government. Roman founded the Blockchain Summer School in 2016.