The social media revolution is mostly over. The mayor players have matured, innovation is very stagnant in this area and most social networking ideas are “pretty much out there”. With the exception of a civic network all the potentially mainstream social networking innovations have been created. The next revolution is something far greater in scope and potential gains for humanity. A large group of programmers, activists, venture capitalists, investors and technical leaders are now seeking to reinvent money. In this essay, I will try to make the case that Bitcoin and the Bitcoin revolution are the biggest phenomena you will experience in your lifetime.

What Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Facebook have failed to do, was accomplished rather easily by an anonymous programmer or group of programmers: the creation of a general purpose digital currency and wallet. If you don’t know what Bitcoin is, please watch to this video.

What is Bitcoin?

But the Bitcoin Revolution is much more than Bitcoin, it’s a revolution of money. And that’s precisely what the media doesn’t seem to understand or communicate well. The thousands of miners, platforms hardware solutions created to facilitate financial transactions have created a versatile, secure and efficient financial network that’s much more superior to any alternative. As a store of value Bitcoin is already better than gold. Litecoin, a faster and safer cryptocurrency,  is much more attractive than silver  and perhaps the only asset class that will experience a 500% growth in 2013. It can also be easily traded via instant crypto exchange platforms. But, in order to fully understand the Bitcoin revolution, is very important to experience the depth and breath of solutions that have been created to make money more democratic and useful. Tuur Demeester does a fine job explaining the broad effects this revolution will have.

Tuur Demeester on Bitcoin and Money

So, in closing, not only do I believe that Bitcoin is the next major digital revolution, it is my understanding that this will be the biggest revolution of our lifetime.

PS: Learn more about Bitcoin at the Second Market Bitcoin Education Center.

Disclosure: I own bitcoins personally and within my company, *ip, which accepts bitcoin as a payment method. The information above is not to be misconstrued as investment advice. Bitcoin is a highly speculative commodity that is best traded by people who have an understanding of disruptive technologies. Please consult your financial advisor before taking any financial advice.