Dot com dollar (Image: Purestock/Getty)

Read more: “The future of money in a webbed-up world“

Editorial: “Future of money: Back to a networked future“

PEER-TO-PEER networks like Napster and Skype have already disrupted the music and telephone industries. Now a bunch of libertarians and internet geeks are hoping to do the same for cash with an online currency called Bitcoin.

The currency is created and distributed over a P2P network, and the developers hope to attract users by exploiting some people’s disaffection with the government-controlled central banks that control conventional money. This virtual cash is already being accepted by some …