Blockchain Technology: Transforming Libertarian Cryptocurrency Dreams to Finance and Banking Realities

The financial technology (FinTech) sector sees high potential value in cryptocurrency blockchain protocols, or distributed-ledger technology (DLT). However, the requirements and guarantees of blockchains for cryptocurrencies do not match those of FinTech-from transaction throughput to security primitives and privacy. The author explores how blockchain research beyond Bitcoin is closing these gaps and some of the challenges that remain.