As of showtime Wednesday, bitcoin values reached $11,353.52 per coin. In March of 2010, one bitcoin was worth $0.003. An investment of thirty cents seven years ago would yield a return of nearly one million dollars today.

Bitcoins, and their cousins Ethereum, Litecoin and others, are a form of digital currency used for "peer-to-peer" monetary transactions that take place online. The concept of e-cash was introduced in 1981 by cryptographer David Chaum to facilitate anonymous transactions; by the 2010's, users were buying drugs, weapons and hacking programs anonymously online using bitcoins and other 'crypto-coins.'

On Wednesday's Smart Talk, we'll discuss the development of bitcoin and other forms of e-currency, its practical and not-so-legal uses and its incredible growth with Dmitriy Krichevskiy, Assistant Professor of Economics at Elizabethtown College.

Also, fewer than 250 of two million Direct Support Professionals who work with intellectually and developmentally disabled Americans have been trained to receive credentialing. It' a career that also doesn't pay much and has a high turnover.

Penn-Mar Human services is trying to change that by offering a career ladder program to those looking to become DSPs. Penn-Mar's Maryland Chief Operating Officer Laura Tieman discusses the employment crisis on Wednesday's Smart Talk.