While some argue that a truly ubiquitous, digital currency is many years from becoming a reality, behaviorally, we’re already well down money’s evolutionary path: credit cards, direct deposits, e-transfers, micro-donations, mobile payments.

And now there’s decentralized “cryptocurrency.” Bitcoin has been generating buzz – some would say hype – for a while; in the last few months alone there’s been talk about Bitcoin ATMs, bubbles, ecosystems, miners, and more.

But no one has addressed something about Bitcoin that only seems obvious in hindsight: What about its effects on teaching kids to count? How will a generation of kids that grows up on Bitcoin – or some other future iteration of digital currency that eventually becomes the norm – learn math?

>It’s not enough to focus only on the financial, political, security, and business implications of Bitcoin. We have to think about the social consequences, too.

Enabled by constant connectivity and access to technology, children across the world are increasingly living digital. In fact, more people have access to cellphones than toilets (yes). As we see kids as young as one year old become proficient with tablets and mobile phones (how many YouTube videos are out there of cute toddlers savvily playing with gadgets?), it’s not enough to focus only on the financial, political, security, and business implications of Bitcoin.

We have to think about the social consequences, too. It’s especially worth considering this issue when we remember that kids across the world and throughout the ages have learned counting – and other math fundamentals – using money.

Countless research has shown the importance of interacting with concrete objects (say, coins over abstract bitcoin) for early learning. The most compelling example remains a classic study of Brazilian street children who couldn’t answer math problems in school, yet could perform complex math transactions in the real-life context of making sales on the street. People learn best when surrounded by physical meaning.

No matter who we are – parent, investor, educator, employer, policymaker, consumer – we need to figure out how to combine emerging technologies like Bitcoin with time-tested teaching and learning methods.

#### Nicola Smith ##### About Nicola Smith is Vice President of Innovation at Engauge, focusing on emerging technologies, participant behavior, and digital trends. Smith currently serves on the technology committee for The Atlanta Children's Museum and The Atlanta Chapter of Junior Achievement. She is also a founding member of Digital Divas, dedicated to advancing women in the digital marketing and advertising space.

In some ways, it’s just a new tool, old debate: People already argue that spellcheckers, autocorrect functions, and digital calculators have eroded young students’ spelling, grammar, and basic math. Indeed, the classroom debate about a calculator’s ability to add or subtract from the learning experience is still raging three decades later.

So what’s the solution? The same as it’s always been: to minimize the disadvantages and optimize the advantages each new technology presents.

We’ve already seen dramatic examples of how technology caters to, and brings out, children’s inherent desire to learn. Take, for instance, the recent experiment conducted by the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child, which dropped boxes with Android tablets into two remote Ethiopian villages. In just under a week, the children were using an average of 47 apps per day – each. Within five months, the little ones had figured out how to hack the system.

There are other examples that demonstrate technology’s positive impact both inside and outside a formal educational structure. So instead of shying away from the concept of digital currency for kids, I think we should employ it as the latest, and potentially greatest, tool in our arsenal.

To understand the challenges and opportunities digital currency may present to teaching children about money, it’s important to note that education about this subject extends beyond mathematics and economics into social studies, history, literature, and other disciplines. But students learn about money through five main concepts: 1) what money is; 2) the denominations of currency; 3) the importance of money; 4) how money is used in everyday life; and 5) how to count money. Some of these concepts are often taught through a combination of tactile or kinesthetic learning along with visual and auditory methods.

Within this approach, there are certain activities and lessons – comparing different denominations of coinage, understanding how many quarters or nickels make up a dollar, monetary-based addition and subtraction, etc. – that are best understood through the physical handling of currency.

>People learn best when surrounded by physical meaning.

Yet when it comes to teaching new generations about money, this aspect of education presents the greatest opportunity to connect the digital with the physical.

Experimenting in this arena has already begun. Besides open source products like littleBits, there are tactile learning devices such as Sifteo cubes (started by two MIT grads who imagined sorting through a pile of digital data as if they were LEGO bricks) that could help digital native-borns to add, subtract, solve puzzles, and more. And of course, kids – and schools – are already using tablets, interactive screens, and other digital tools to bolster teaching and learning.

By experimenting with such technologies *before *digital currency like Bitcoin becomes the norm, we can prepare. We can help ensure the financial literacy of future generations. Even true believers in technology’s ability to improve our lives need to recognize that we need policies, too.

Fortunately for us and more so for our children, many countries – motivated by the desire to prevent financial crises – have already recognized the necessity of financial literacy education. Twenty-six countries have already begun developing formal national strategies for increasing financial literacy. And in the United States, 82 percent of American parents and 89 percent of teachers seem to agree that personal finance should be a requirement to graduate.

Now it’s just a matter of making sure this discussion includes digital currency, too – which is where we can use the momentum around Bitcoin to our advantage. Let’s add some digital bits to analog coins in the financial literacy debate.**

Wired Opinion Editor: Sonal Chokshi @smc90