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More than 16 million units of bitcoin are in circulation. In 2009 it was worthless, today it has already crossed the bar of $ 6,500. © Benoit Tessier / REUTERS

On August 19, 2008, the domain name bitcoin.org is reserved on the Internet. Ten years later, bitcoin has become the most powerful cryptocurrency in the world with 13 million users and flows estimated at $ 5 billion a day. This currency controlled by an algorithm escapes the authority of States and Central Banks, and is becoming more and more followers.

" Crypto-money is freedom! No need to go through your bank, you have money where you want, when you want, "smiles Cyril Fouret. The forty-something, motorcycle helmet in hand goes regularly to Coinhouse, a sort of virtual currency bank located in the second district of Paris. Two years ago, this public service employee faced money problems: " I was stunned by bank charges . A friend then talks to him about crypto-currencies. " I was quickly seduced. The advantage is that transactions are very secure and there is no intermediary. It's the future .

Enthusiasts who want to free themselves from banks, send money abroad at no cost, and speculate on rising prices. Because bitcoin , extremely volatile, remains primarily a speculative tool for 75% of users. It must be said that the currency can pay big: between 2012 and 2017, its price has been multiplied by 1,500. But for Manuel Valente, director research and development of Coinhouse, " this virtual currency is intended to become much more than an investment speculative. A decentralized currency, without a central bank, which allows for free exchange, is a tremendous technological tour de force . "

Manuel Valente, director of operations at La Maison du Bitcoin in Paris, exchange platform. RFI / Ariane Gaffuri

A libertarian utopia

Created by a certain Satoshi Nakamoto, a mysterious inventor who will never reveal his true identity, bitcoin intends to free Internet users from banks and large companies. " Originally, it's a philosophy. At the end of the 1990s, a small group of enthusiasts wondered about the protection of privacy on the Internet, explains Manuel Valente. They wonder what would happen if the big groups and governments start to exploit and resell all the data left by internet users on the internet. At the time, everyone takes them for crazy, paranoid . "Then comes the idea of ​​an alternative currency, encrypted, freed from the influence of the States.

Gradually, the number of bitcoin users is growing, until it enters the Chicago stock market in 2017. Today, 13 million people use the currency around the world, a figure that should continue to grow. After Manuel Valente: " In the near future, Bitcoin could represent a reliable alternative to dollars in international trade. The petro-monarchies of the Gulf have already begun . "

→ (Re) listen: Bitcoin: speculative bubble or financial revolution?