2008年，神秘的比特币（第一种分散化的数字货币）创造者中本聪（Satoshi Nakamoto）把比特币说成是“点对点版的电子现金 ” ， 它“让在线支付由一方直接支付给另一方，而不必经过金融机构。 ”
In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto – the mysterious creator of bitcoin, the first decentralized digital currency – described it as a “purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash,” which “would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.”