With bitcoin’s market cap hovering around $380 billion — down from over $1.25 trillion last November — lately much attention has been paid to bitcoin’s price action in the mainstream media.

Although headlines often focus on bitcoin’s economic component, they are missing the most important aspect of the technology, according to Darin Feinstein, founder of bitcoin mining company Core Scientific. According to Feinstein, “The root of what this technology is, it's a new accounting technology — that's the base.”

In a new episode of The Scoop, Feinstein explains the significance of the technology underlying the bitcoin blockchain, and why he thinks it represents the first innovation in the field of accounting in over 700 years.

Feinstein says his background in accounting helped him see bitcoin’s potential back in 2011,

“I read somewhere about the immutability of the ledger, and as an accountant, it caught my eye. Then I said, ‘That's impossible, there's no such thing as an immutable ledger,' — that's the holy grail of accounting.”

The ledger is the technology responsible for fundamentally organizing society, he says.

“There's nothing more important to your life, in terms of how you function every day, then all of the ledgers that exist that people rely on to know where you are, and what you're doing, and what you own.”

After spending months researching bitcoin, Feinstein concluded that not only is it an immutable ledger, but one that removes human risk from the equation:

“It disrupts the world because you now have a permanent accounting ledger that nobody can manipulate, you can't commit fraud on it, you can't alter it, you can't claim human error — the records are the records. It's the first time in human history you have truth on-chain ever.”

Episode 61 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Darin Feinstein, founder of Core Scientific.

Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to [email protected].

This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Chainalysis & IWC Schaffhausen

About Chainalysis

Chainalysis is the leading blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 60 countries. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, Paradigm, Ribbit, and other leading firms in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.

About IWC Schaffhausen

IWC Schaffhausen is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer based in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Known for its unique engineering approach to watchmaking, IWC combines the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge technology and processes. With collections like the Portugieser and the Pilot’s Watches, the brand covers the whole spectrum from elegant timepieces to sports watches. For more information, visit IWC.com