The rise of the cryptocurrency sector and Bitcoin especially, is one of the most exciting advances of the last seven years. What lies behind these incredible developments and what changes might we see in the coming years? In this episode, Piotr provides insights in the origins of Bitcoin and learn what makes it such an innovative piece of programming. You’ll also discover where Bitcoin’s limitations lie and how the next generation of cryptocurrencies are building up and improving the Bitcoin protocol. Finally, you’ll learn what’s likely to lie ahead for Bitcoin and its competitors and how steady growth in the sector may see the increasing use of cryptocurrencies by large corporations and, one day, even nation states. Piotr Piasecki has been involved with the cryptocurrency community since 2011 and completed his Master’s thesis on Bitcoin security in 2012. Since then, he’s worked to develop a cryptocurrency exchange, and run his own startup. He currently works for Factom as a Senior Developer, runs a number of websites dedicated to cryptocurrency, and is a moderator on the most popular Bitcoin subreddit. Here’s a glance at what you’ll learn: Why Satoshi Nakamoto might very well be a single programmer rather than a team of developers How scaling issues mean that Bitcoin is gradually losing its hold on the sector. How “crypto 2.0” systems like Ripple are starting to gain real attention by performing multi-currency, international transactions at a fraction of the time or cost of mainstream banks.