Is it just me, or is it getting noisy in here? There are over 1 000 coins – never mind ICOs – all clamouring for our attention. It’s also often hard to work out the level of adoption of many of these currencies, not to mention if the tech works like they say it does. And meanwhile, the price of Bitcoin continues its inexorable slide, worrying those focussed on shortterm profit-taking. If the slide continues, however, it’s probably not going to be worth the trouble for miners, and many of the smaller players are going to close shop.

Meanwhile, the big question – how can it scale? – is as relevant as ever. Bitcoin can now support up to about seven transactions a second, and until this is increased by many multiples, its mass adoption as a payment mechanism is unlikely to happen. This doesn’t mean it’s been a failure: on the contrary, it’s just that the technology is still being tinkered with, and that some have more patience than others. It’s still the world’s most successful decentralised peer-to-peer payment system, and that is to be celebrated.