Toyota Intersects With New-Fangled Thing Called Bitcoin

Have you heard of this new thing called Bitcoin?

It’s a pretty big news story these days, but as with a lot of news, it involves programming and computers, which is kind of alienating for many people.

The latest development in the story today, however, is that the man who apparently started the digital currency now valued at around $8 billion lives in a modest Los Angeles home. And he drives a silver Toyota Corolla CE.

This is the second case this year of a famous computer programmer favoring a regular car, as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in January that he drives a Volkswagen.

You might be thinking: what on earth does Bitcoin have to do with Toyota? Well, not much in a direct sense, we’ll give you that. But in the big picture, we think it’s striking that a world-upheaving idea like digital money should come from someone who also appreciates Toyota’s qualities of reliability and safety.

Money is certainly worth more when it avoids volatilely swinging up and down, so if a new currency is being made, it sounds better to us that its creator drives a Toyota and not, say, a Ferrari.

Now that we’ve made our main point, we might as well do a little public service by answering the $8 billion question:

What is Bitcoin?

Well, as a digital currency, it’s computer code. It’s stored locally on your hard drive, so if it’s damaged, it’s gone, just like paper money. The good thing about it is that it is not subject to any banking or transaction fees.

What’s to stop someone from making their own Bitcoin money, and thus decrease the value of everyone else’s? Good luck. The code is very, very complex, which was done on purpose. According to Newsweek:

“Bitcoin production is designed to move at a carefully calibrated pace to boost value and scarcity and remain inflation proof, halving its quantity every four years, and is designed to stop proliferating when Bitcoins reach a total of 21 million in 2140.”

In any case, that’s our civics lesson for the day. Back to car talk. If you want to learn more about Bitcoin, we recommend the Newsweek story which contained the tidbit about the Toyota Corolla, as well as more details about its owner.