In 1995, Clifford Stoll wrote the now infamous Newsweek article, “Why the Web Won’t Be Nirvana.”

Here is a small excerpt:

After two decades online, I’m perplexed. It’s not that I haven’t had a gas of a good time on the Internet. I’ve met great people and even caught a hacker or two. But today, I’m uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic. Baloney.

Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth is no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.

Then there’s cyberbusiness. We’re promised instant catalog shopping – just point and click for great deals. We’ll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obsolete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet – which there isn’t – the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople. — “Why the Web Won’t Be Nirvana.” Newsweek, 2/26/95.

In 1995, you really had to be a visionary to see the Internet’s potential. As Clifford mentioned back then no one had figured out a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet. Today, plenty of companies have solved that problem. What most people don’t realize is that Bitcoin is the result of almost 40 years of research and discovery in the niche field of cryptography.

Bitcoin is first and foremost a technology. It is an open source protocol for transferring value over the Internet, using cryptography to automatically validate transactions and prevent double spending. Both VISA and PayPal tried to achieve this – and fell short.

The ramifications of Bitcoin’s social and economic benefits are vast, including global financial inclusion, competition in a gridlocked lifeline remittance industry, innovation in e-commerce, savings on transaction costs for businesses, and improved consumer protection and privacy. In this increasingly borderless and digital era, Bitcoin is the way businesses, consumers and the world’s unbanked can transact securely, swiftly, and affordably. Humans have finally figured out how to send money over the Internet, and we are not going to ‘unlearn’ it.

In the last quarter alone, the nation’s top three tech venture capital firms – Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and Founder’s Fund – invested more than $30 million in Bitcoin.  (The rankings were based on Forbes’ Midas List.)

In 2014, a second wave of entrepreneurs are entering the industry – the trifecta of the sophisticated computer scientist, seasoned executive, and well-funded venture capitalist. They are building the core infrastructure that Bitcoin needs to deliver on its potential.

Join us at our annual international conference, Bitcoin 2014 from May 15^th to 17^th in Amsterdam, to see Bitcoin’s promise and opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship. Clifford Stoll ended up on the wrong side of history. We challenge you to avoid the same mistake.

ABOUT:  The Bitcoin Foundation is a member-driven non-profit organization. Its mission is to protect the integrity of the Bitcoin protocol, standardize the technological infrastructure for widespread adoption and promote its social and economic benefits through public education. We approach this mission with Bitcoin’s technology and community as our focus. There is tremendous potential in Bitcoin – from the opportunities it creates for entrepreneurs to the purchasing power it provides for citizens of countries large and small. Our goal is to help Bitcoin deliver on that potential.

Follow us @BTCFoundation for the latest!

By Jinyoung Lee Englund, Bitcoin Foundation