Cryptocurrency left a lasting impression on the world and may be here to stay, because, unlikely as it sounds, it turned databases sexy almost overnight.
Databases are prerequisites for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, which are essential techniques of our times. Big services such as Google, Amazon or Facebook would not function without it. AI may be difficult to implement from scratch, however this is not the position we find ourselves in. Open-source code allowed us to simply apply AI to well-structured datasets. Once digital information is available and recorded automatically online, the data can be also analyzed using AI online.
I would like to use my best argument to convince you that coins, tokens or the blockchain might be used interchangeably with the concept of 'a really well-structured database':
Some of you may have heard the argument that data is not the new oil, because 90% of it is hard to access. Data may be logged manually by many groups of people who work at different locations and use a mixture of handwritten logbooks and software. The truth is, this kind of data is of very limited use; we do better with data that supports us when we need it.
Cryptocurrency however is born in the digital world. It always had structure because machines computed, sent and stored data in databases. Because of this, we have easy access to this data as well, which makes us better decision-makers. The first use case of Bitcoin was currency; first a hundred thousand for pizzas, years later a fistful for a house. It is hard not to think about the money it is worth today. But perhaps the real strength of Cryptocurrency does not lie in its use as a currency at all.
Think about that for a while.