Bitcoin is the first example of a new form of life.
It lives and breathes on the internet.
It lives because it can pay people to keep it alive.
It lives because it performs a useful service that people will pay it to perform.
It lives because anyone, anywhere, can run a copy of its code.
It lives because all the running copies are constantly talking to each other.
It lives because if any one copy is corrupted it is discarded, quickly and without any fuss or muss.
It lives because it is radically transparent: anyone can see its code and see exactly what it does.
It can’t be changed. It can’t be argued with. It can’t be tampered with.
It can’t be corrupted. It can’t be stopped. It can’t even be interrupted.
Anyone who wants to create their own new digital life form can do so.
Like Bitcoin, it will live on the internet.
Like Bitcoin, it will survive as long as it does something that people will pay for.
Like Bitcoin, there will be no way of killing it.
Like Bitcoin, it will be radically transparent.
Like Bitcoin, it can’t be stopped.
Like Bitcoin, it will be able to pay people to do anything people are willing to do in exchange for its cryptocurrency.
Unlike Bitcoin, it will follow its own rules, whatever rules were programmed into it when it was created.
Ralph Merkle