Transcription

[[After Valerie Smith's mention of "shadowCoin", Fooker perks up, apparently making a connection.]]
Fooker: "shadowCoin"? Is that anything like Bitcoin? Got a few dozen of those myself.
Smith: Never heard of "Bitcoin", but "shadowCoin" has been around for about a year.

[[Valerie continues as the others listen intently.]]
Smith: It was started by an anonymous person or group under the alias "Asahi Yamamoto". It uses cryptographically hard problems to "mint" virtual coins stored in a digital "wallet".

[[As Valerie continues, Sharon and Trudy share a suspicious glance.]]
Smith: The proof-of-work logic scales over time, making it resistant to hacks to game the system. And being decentralized, it's not controlled by a single government.

[[As Valerie concludes her speech, she seems fairly confident in the subject matter. D.C. Smythe, on the other hand, seems less enthused.]]
Smith: It's really an attractive alternative to fiat currencies...
Smythe: [Drolly] Especially with money launderers and international criminals, who benefit from its anonymity...