Virtual Currency

An immersive education summit is an event that takes place every year and is basically a conference, with many speakers where they discuss the impact that certain kinds of technology are having, and how they can be expanded. Topics covered feature all state of the art technologies such as wearable computers and 3D printing.

Here are two highlight screenshots which show in more detail what this conference is, and more specifically who and what universities are involved, because I could not remember them all. Some of my favorite topics discussed are Google Glass, 3D printing, personal robotics, and virtual currencies. The subject of this report is virtual currencies. The most popular, which I will focus on is bitcoin.

Bitcoin is an idea created in the past few years to transfer money electronically, without the involvement of banks! Instead of making a payment through a bank, people could just buy Bitcoins by using a "Bitcoin wallet" which would give you a set number of "currency" to exchange electronically. This works by sending the "currency" as a very complex and secure code from one person to another. The complexity of these codes is incredible, which makes them theoretically very secure.

There are a lot of mixed emotions about this idea, one of which being simple uneasiness; for lack of better terms, it is too risky for some people. Although the codes which the money is sent as are very long and complex, they are still out there, and therefor can possibly be hacked, no matter how unlikely it is. Some people just feel better having their money locked up in a bank, as well as tangible and on their person.

Another massive negative to Bitcoin, and the one that more or less removed it from the map is the ridiculous volatility of the worth. Here is a graph of what a Bitcoin was worth through one year, it is all over the place! People don't want to invest their money into something that could be worth next to nothing a month from now, and for that reason, Bitcoin's initial surge of popularity dropped off, and many people, including myself would never in a million years trust something like this. Apple Pay is an example of a better idea.

This video highlights what Bitcoin is as well as the ideas that did not quite come together as they planned. It is not very long, definitely worth the watch to get some basic information on the topic, and make your own assessment of if it's a good idea or not!

Technology like this is an ever changing/expanding world. Some are fantastic ideas, some fall a little bit short, but either way they are interesting to learn about and see what the next generation of technology might contain. Learn more about all of this at http://summit.immersiveeducation.org/

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