This does not represent a move away from Bitcoin's function as cash, as is commonly believed. While the term cash has come to denote the money used for small consumer transactions today, the original meaning of the term refers to money that is a bearer instrument, whose value can be transferred directly without resort to settlement by, or liability of, third parties. In the nineteenth century, the term cash referred to central bank gold reserves, and cash settlement was the transfer of physical gold between banks. If this analysis is correct, and Bitcoin continues to grow in value and
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