Bitcoin has certainly been a trending topic on every major financial website in the last two years. It’s easy to understand why. Its liberal trait always made it a bit controversial. Not to mention its increasing value which really draw some analysts’ attention. And to top it all, business owners sterted seeing it as a type of revenue they’d be comfortable accepting. The perfect economic cycle. But where did the story of bitcoin actually started?
Some voices say that this amazing new currency as in fact Thomas Edison’s idea. This popular American investor put his name on nearly 1,100 patents (which include the motion picture camera, the incandescent light bulb, electric power system, telegraphs and many more). Some also claim that Edison also created a “renegade currency” – a commodity reserve monetary plan which had as a main purpose the price stability and served to help American farmers. Here’s how it basically worked: the farmers could store recently harvested commodities in government warehouses for up to 1 year. They eventually received a mortgage certificate stating the quantity & quality of their stock. This could be used at a National Bank to 50% of the value of the commodity, based on a 25-year average price. To retrieve this, they would have to equity another certificate and cash in 50% of the equity value.
Although Edison’s system implied state institutions, it basically had the same idea as bitcoin – an independent form of currency (based on that 25-year average) that could be later exchanged in money.
As many other bright minds, Edison always worked on improving his inventions and it is said he worked on enhancing this, as well. He might have eventually inspire a chain reaction of people (like the infomercial claims) which later became the bitcoin system.
Source: TopComputerScienceDegrees.com