'Bitcoin works – and that set off a spark' – Alex Tapscott
Why Bitcoin’s potential as a platform could be bigger than its role as digital gold
Alex Tapscott didn’t plan to become a blockchain expert. In 2013, he was working in investment banking, navigating the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Then a chance opportunity changed everything.
His father, Don Tapscott, was running a program at the University of Toronto that needed someone to write a report on Bitcoin. No one in the program had financial services expertise on the topic – so Alex stepped up.
“At the time that I first learned about Bitcoin, I think the market valuation of the entire network, was maybe like $6 or 7 billion, so had it been a publicly traded company, which is the market that I was working in, it would have been considered a small to medium cap business,” Tapscott told The Crypto Radio.
That initial research project led to Blockchain Revolution, a bestselling book that helped shape mainstream understanding of the technology.
“Collaborating with my dad to this day remains the most fun and intellectually rewarding thing that I've ever done,” Tapscott said.
More than digital gold
Bitcoin has long been seen as a store of value – a kind of digital gold. It’s scarce, energy-intensive to produce, and not controlled by any single government. But Tapscott believes it could become much more than that – a platform for building various applications, just as the internet evolved from simple websites to complex services.
One of the key concepts he explores is the idea of the "internet of value." While the internet has transformed information sharing, Bitcoin and blockchain could revolutionize how value is stored and transferred.
“If I send you an email, though, I can send the same email to someone else, right? If I host a website and access it. If I tweet something, it's available for all to see. So the internet is this really powerful tool that's basically like a digital printing press for information,” he said.
With blockchain, the rules are different. Value can be sent, verified, and secured without being duplicated. Tapscott compared Bitcoin’s emergence to the development of AI and the internet itself – both of which took decades to reach mainstream adoption.
“AI is a technology that's an overnight success story decades in the making. You know, the Internet was launched in the 60s and 70s, but it took 30 years before it reached widespread commercialization,” he explained.
Tapscott believes Bitcoin might follow a similar trajectory. Its potential as more than just a store of value could take years to fully develop.
Securing votes and more
Blockchain is starting to be used in some regions around the world to help secure elections. Photo: Unsplash / Element5 Digital
Tapscott believes Bitcoin’s potential as more than just a store of value could take years to fully develop. One area he finds particularly promising is using blockchain for secure voting.
“Votes are like payments. If you vote, it's important that your vote is cast and counted for the person you voted for, and that you can't vote again, and that you can prove it,” he said.
Tapscott sees this kind of innovation as part of a broader shift toward using blockchain for more than just financial transactions. Whether it’s securing votes or powering new decentralized applications, he believes Bitcoin’s technology could become the foundation for a range of digital interactions.
Bitcoin’s biggest challenges ahead
While Tapscott remains optimistic, he doesn’t shy away from Bitcoin’s challenges – particularly how miners are incentivized.
“Ultimately, the way that Bitcoin miners get paid is through the issuance of new Bitcoin. But 19 of 21 million Bitcoin has already been mined, and that reward gets cut in half every few years,” he noted.
This raises questions about how the network will continue to secure itself when mining rewards are no longer sufficient to incentivize participants. Tapscott believes the answer lies in developing new revenue models, such as increasing transaction fees or incorporating new layers of functionality.
Still, he remains confident that innovation within the Bitcoin space will address these issues, just as other transformative technologies have evolved over time.
A future worth building
Tapscott remains deeply involved in the crypto space, writing a weekly newsletter and hosting a podcast. He believes Bitcoin’s potential is still unfolding, driven by its ability to reshape how value is stored and transferred.
Tapscott doesn’t claim to know exactly where Bitcoin’s journey will lead, but he’s certain of one thing: it’s far from over.
“The future is not something to be predicted,” he said. “It's something to be achieved.”
Listen to the whole interview on The Crypto Radio's live player or in Guardians of Bitcoin podcast.
