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The Rise of Digital Assets
Digital assets have steadily grown in popularity in the last 10 years. There are several different types of digital assets (i.e., cryptocurrencies) in circulation with the most popular being Bitcoin. Bitcoin was created to be a trustless, decentralized, peer-to-peer version of electronic cash that allows online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution (1). Proponents of digital assets argue that the underlying blockchain technology is superior to existing financial systems because it is theoretically un-hackable and beyond the control of one entity. Skeptics argue that Bitcoin has no fundamental value, is not legal tender, lacks regulation, and is incredibly volatile (2).
It will likely take several years to fully understand how blockchain technology could impact our lives, but the rate of growth of this nascent industry is undeniable. One of the other leading technologies spawned from this industry is Ethereum. Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum is not a digital store of value. It is a decentralized software platform that allows developers to create financial products that anyone in the world can freely access (3). A plethora of different financial products have been created for banking, insurance, and variety of other financial applications.
Software applications are critical to the functionality of the industry as there…
