Everything seems to indicate that cryptocurrencies came here to stay.
What began as a small liberal experiment of a group of geeks to create a digital currency free of the chains of the big central banks and with which anything could be paid, nowadays is already a familiar term for the common people.
But the pioneer in the cryptocurrency phenomenon has a history full of ups and downs, martyrs, ghosts, superheroes and even villains. In this article, Guidedoc unravels three must-see economy documentaries that explain everything in the world of cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, and blockchain technology.
To explain it easily, cryptocurrencies are a kind of digital currency with exchange value for buying and selling. Transactions in this type of currency are not governed by a central organization, as is the case, for example, with traditional currencies that are governed by the central banks of each country.
Instead, all cryptocurrency transactions are recorded in a decentralized system through a technology called blockchain. Because of their recent upward trend in their use around the world, cryptocurrencies are the subject of discord among politicians, entrepreneurs and economists worldwide, mainly because their detractors claim little confidence and stability in the management of this type of digital currency.
Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency on the planet. It is estimated that today more than 100 billion dollars are handled in bitcoin worldwide.
Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains, and the Future of the Internet
Banking On Bitcoin
There is perhaps no better documentary than this one to start with the topic of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. The film is guided by filmmaker Torsten Hoffmann, who serves as a sort of host in this entertaining and educational journey through the history and new trends of cryptocurrencies.
In addition to highlighting the benefits of this new digital currency, Hoffmann takes care to debunk several negative myths associated with the handling of these currencies. "Cryptocurrencies could be a tool for criminal activities, but so could the dollar bills or the banking system", he says.
To demonstrate the reliability of Blockchain technology, Hoffmann interviews experts in the field and brings to light great findings on how this technology can even help make international transactions more transparent.
This film features emerging and big personalities in the world of cryptocurrencies, such as Bruce Pon, Vaitea Cowan or Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ehereum, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the world.
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Chistopher Cannuciari’s "Banking On Bitcoin", is one of the most popular documentaries on the subject of cryptocurrencies, and that is why we will talk a lot about it in this article.
Contrary to the faceless avatar of Satoshi Nakamoto, the so-called "creator" of Bitcoin, the film exposes the protagonists who played a key role in the vertiginous birth of the digital currency and its famous blockchain technology, the structure on which the security of the metabolism of all cryptocurrencies is based.
In the beginning of the film, the smiling entrepreneur and Bitcoin pioneer Charlie Shrem becomes familiar with the ankle bracelet that the authorities have put on him before definitively entering the place of his imprisonment, where he will serve a two-year sentence in the United States for facilitating a process of money laundering through Silk Road, a black market that operated on the web thanks to the use of the anonymity intrinsic to the founding principles of Bitcoin.
The possibility that cryptocurrencies are used for illicit purposes is the most critical point of the film, and this is when the heroes of Bitcoin come to its defense, among them there is Erik Voorhees, one of the first entrepreneurs of the Bitcoin phenomenon.
This successful American businessman is the main voice of this doc. Cannuciari follows him through several locations, from the crowded streets of New York to his bicycle ride through the woods, from where Voorhees defends the anonymity and complete freedom of movement of cryptocurrencies as two basic legitimate civil rights.
"We have banks that have ATMs on every street corner in America, and those banks know very well that money is getting used for drugs. And yet that's fine. They are allowed to do that. No one gets in trouble. But Charlie sells bitcoins to a guy who uses drugs, and he goes to jail. He was an entrepreneur that started building this industry, he built services that people found useful, when bankers almost destroyed the world economy and none of them got in trouble whatsoever "
The former is one of Voorheerss so many legal allegations in defense of a technology that was born as a response to the banking crisis of 2008 and that today is seen as a monetary revolution.
The difficult relationship between Wall Street and Bitcoin covers a large part of the documentary. It is here that the regulations imposed by Benjamin Lawski - a kind of nemesis of John Turturro acting as an antagonist in a financial thriller - the principal superintendent of financial services of New York, appear as the great threat to the precepts of the founders of the Bitcoin's liberal ideology.
Standing side by side with films like The Big Short or The Forecaster, pieces that try to explain the recent financial crises, "Banking on Bitcoin" is one of those essential documentaries to understand an economic phenomenon that could, sooner rather than later, change the way we sell and buy everything we consume.
To fully understand what cryptocurrencies are about and what they will be in the future, it is necessary to understand Blockchain technology. For that, this indie documentary is the best you can find to watch online.
Conceived as the first episode of a docuseries on new technologies, Blockchain is a journey through several countries to learn about the blockchain from key characters in the world of cryptocurrencies.
Will Bloackchain disrupt the world? This is a question that this documentary answers through a variety of qualified voices. Interviewees include Charlie Shrem, co-founder of the Bitcoin Foundation, and Joseph Lubin, co-founder of Ethereum.
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