When Bitcoin reached its all-time high, it operated on a network with only a few million subscribers, and faced a multitude of copycat coins and tokens that had the potential to supersede it. What it really needed was global critical mass.

The opportunity was there for a truly massive network to launch its own blockchain currency, or take on the open source system already in the wild. At the same time, cryptocurrencies needed a technology fix; something to make them more user friendly, trusted and accepted.

The big players in global networks all had their own agendas. While Facebook was pouring money into privacy issues and solving fake news, Amazon was focusing on its prime customers, using AI to predict how and when to serve them better, and making commercial hay.

Which left the field wide open for a new, agile contender. Alibaba was already successfully entrenched with AliPay, and together with TenCent, grabbed the opportunity to own blockchain payments, with an AI twist.

AliCent uses artificial intelligence to monitor and maintain the blockchain, exponentially reducing transaction and verification time. Instead of waiting for an algorithm to run its course, the AI can predict the minimum number of hashes required to infer verification, and confirm payments immediately. Which makes it extremely user-friendly.

Blockchain purists say this goes against the very nature of a decentralized ledger, effectively putting AliCent in control, but ordinary users of the currency don’t seem to care – and there are billions of them.

Paying for everything from cement to cappuccinos with a simple tap or swipe, and knowing that it can’t be hacked, rejected or scammed, has got AliCent subscribers hooked.

People who remember Satoshi’s dream of a free, unfettered currency, still holding their bitcoins, like players of Atari games and vinyl records, are relics of a bygone age.