PROTECTION AND WEALTH BUILDING STRATEGIES 231recent years, this is a serious potential problem for libertarian
users of Bitcoin.
Another problem is that Bitcoin and the other crypto-cur-
rencies have not survived a complete business and credit cycle
yet. Bitcoin, the first crypto-currency, was invented in 2009.
The global economy has been in a weak expansion since then,
but has not experienced a financial panic or technical recession.
Investors have some experience with how stocks, bonds,
gold and other asset classes might perform in a downturn,
but we have no experience with Bitcoin. Will liquidity dry up
and prices plunge? Or will investors consider it a safe harbor,
which will lead to price increases? We don’t know the answer.
In the end, it may be the case that Bitcoin will fade as
a currency, but survive as a technology. The encrypted block
chain technology is useful for a variety of asset transfers beside
currency. It can be used to transfer title to land, securities, and
other assets in secure, inexpensive ways.
It is this technology potential, more than the currency
itself that has attracted the interest of investors such as the
Winklevoss twins and Marc Andreesen. While start-up compa-
nies in Bitcoin may be highly speculative for the time being,
there may be attractive investment opportunities in this arena
in the years ahead.
My day with the operators, as the Special Forces are called,
was a fascinating blend of technologists, commandos, and
economists working together to counter a threat to U.S. na-
tional security from the use by terrorists of crypto-currencies
to finance terror. I have participated in such collaborations
before and it’s always heartening to encounter the brilliance
of our military leaders and elite forces.
Many of the colonels and generals whom I meet have
graduate degrees in demanding technical fields, speak multi-
ple languages, and have deployed in diverse civilizations and
cultures on every continent. The U.S. has the finest military