Entrepreneurs are naturally drawn to Bitcoin. They are original thinkers, typically unconventional and often visionary. They’re perfectly comfortable taking the road less traveled. They may even prefer it. To them, a decentralized, purely digital currency simply makes sense in an increasingly globalized and digitized world.

Business owners and entrepreneurs have been among the first to accept Bitcoin as an easy way to cut costs and boost their bottom line. Now, forward-thinking businesses all over the world, from start-ups to large companies, accept Bitcoin. In the past year, Bitcoin’s skyrocketing price has rewarded many for taking the leap.

Entrepreneur and investor Troy Osinoff sees far-reaching implications: “A decentralized peer-to-peer payment system such as Bitcoin has the potential to transform the world’s economy, and as more people start to use it, it begins to have significantly more power,” he said. As more blockchain- and Bitcoin-oriented fintech start-ups come into existence, Bitcoin’s impact is growing. “Bitcoin could be viewed as an evolution of the current financial system,” he said.

Evolution is slow. Revolution is sudden. Either way, the global financial system is changing.

For entrepreneurs, Bitcoin is changing the game in a fundamental way: how they acquire funding, their very lifeblood. As Osinoff explains, “ICOs [Initial Coin Offerings] are changing how many new ventures think about raising capital. Instead of searching for outside investments through angel investments or venture capital, companies that hold an initial coin offering are able to crowdfund a pool of money.” The absence of a strict regulatory process allows new altcoins and, more broadly, new ideas to flourish (good and bad, admittedly).

Regarding the quality of cryptocurrencies, Osinoff advises looking not only at their market performance, but also their fundamental features. By both measures, he places Bitcoin at the top: “Bitcoin is the most viable peer-to-peer crypto, and it’s been around long enough to make higher market adoption a reality rather than theory.”