In 2009 the new money was mined into existence, and payments left the counter.
The first Bitcoin block was mined in January 2009. The same year, Square set out to turn any phone into a cash register. In March, Kepler launched to search the Milky Way for planets orbiting other stars.
In January 2009 the first block of Bitcoin was mined, and the idea from that nine-page paper became a running thing in the world. The same year, Square was founded on the belief that anyone should be able to take a payment with the phone already in their hand.
Two attacks on the same old fortress: one on what money is, one on who gets to accept it.
I was watching both closely. Money is the most conservative technology we have, the slowest to change, guarded hardest. Which is exactly why, when it finally moves, it moves everything. I wanted to be standing there when it did.