Bitcoin was the first currency to exist only as data, which is a tricky idea. For decades, currency had been tracked digitally in computer databases around the world, but that data had always been only a reference to physical currency. The numbers in the databases were not the currency itself, but a symbol of it. The $1,200 listed on your bank account webpage referred to $1,200 in paper money that you could instantly obtain by walking to your local branch or ATM. Bitcoin was revolutionary in that now the digital numbers were the currency. Each bitcoin was soon seen as a genuine scarce resource, even if it wasn’t issued by a government, did not refer to anything physical, and allowed transactions to occur practically for free. Today, one bitcoin — a random array of bits on a hard-drive somewhere — is worth more than a cheap used car.

But the most important thing Bitcoin did was eliminate the need for any amount of trust between two individuals. “Trust” is one of those words that is easy to use, but requires some unpacking to fully appreciate. Trust doesn’t just exist between you and your loved ones, but exists as the basis of nearly every relationship in your life. You trust your mechanic to fix your car so it doesn’t break down, you trust your bank to not lose your money, you trust the police to keep you safe, your doctor to keep you well, and your dog to not bite you. In return, you receive trust back — your dog trusts that you will feed it and your doctor trusts that they will be paid.

The problem with trust amongst complete strangers is that it often requires some sort of middleman. Since there is no immediate social cost to breaking a stranger’s trust, there often needs to be someone whose job it is to verify that each stranger is doing what they said they would do. Things like escrow agents, lawyers, contracts, and legal consequences must exist in order for each party to feel comfortable interacting. The problem with escrow agents, banks, and lawyers is that they are expensive, and they don’t actually eliminate the need for trust — they move your trust onto them.

Bitcoin eliminated the need for these types of middlemen in financial transactions of any scale. Transferring $1,000,000 worth of Bitcoin requires no more effort or fees than transferring $0.25 worth. And why should it? They’re all just numbers anyway, and financial transactions are the source of most action in our world. Allowing financial cooperation to occur instantly, without the possibility of fraud, the cost of a middleman, or the revelation of identity is beginning to have a massive impact on the way humans interact with each other.