How Bitcoin Changes the World Economy (Originally aired June 21, 2017)

Guest: Paul Vigna, Journalist, The Wall Street Journal, Author, "The Age of Cryptocurrency: How Bitcoin and the Blockchain Are Challenging the Global Economic Order" The next time you swipe your card at your local 7-Eleven, think about this: Before the money can leave your bank account and end up in 7-Eleven’s, there are at least five different organizations that will handle your credit card information. It’s an invisible bureaucracy of banks and finance companies and government agencies that set interest rates, charge fees, and control nearly everything about the way we use money.  The electronic currency called bitcoin sidesteps all of that in a way that could save a lot of money. But bitcoin also has features that make it really attractive to drug dealers and hackers. So is bitcoin something to fear or embrace?