[...] Fraud protection is a built-in part of the financial world we live in, which we've simply come to accept as the cost of doing business. But Bitcoin at its best could make fraud impossible unless one's private key is stolen and make the thieves easy to find even if a key is stolen. The result could be a major drop in fraud. Furthermore, by codifying trust for high-value transactions, the blockchain could wipe out middlemen and friction in a variety of transactions, creating consumer surplus. On the global stage, it could also help bring frontier countries into the economic mainstream.