Shaping New Hampshire’s Economy: The Power of Cryptocurrency

Throughout history, transformative technologies have almost always been met first with fear.  The best analogy for today’s anxiety around cryptocurrency is not the railroad speculation boom of the 1800s or even paper money—it is the early Internet.  In the 1990s, many dismissed the Internet as a fad, a playground for fraud, or a destabilizing force that would undermine traditional institutions. There were scams. There was volatility. There was a spectacular bubble and crash. And yet beneath that turbulence, infrastructure was being built that would permanently reshape commerce, communication, and opportunity.

Cryptocurrency is following a remarkably similar trajectory.

In its early stages, the Internet was clunky, poorly regulated, and widely misunderstood.  Headlines focused on dot-com collapses and online scams. Lawmakers struggled to understand how to regulate it without suffocating innovation.  Many Americans simply avoided it.  But over time, the underlying technology matured.  Guardrails improved.  Security strengthened.  Institutions adapted.  What once felt dangerous became indispensable.

Today, we do not question whether the Internet belongs in our economy.  We recognize it as foundational.

Crypto and blockchain technology represent a comparable shift—one focused on the infrastructure of value itself.  Just as the Internet decentralized information, blockchain decentralizes trust.  It allows for secure, transparent transactions without relying solely on centralized intermediaries.  That matters for efficiency.  It matters for innovation.  And increasingly, it matters for economic inclusion.

Fear of the unknown is natural. But fear alone has never been a sound policy framework.

Read the rest here at NH Journal.