Last year, successful startup CEO and Bitcoin community hero Tony Gallippi testified before Congress on behalf of the oft-maligned crypto-libertarian dream currency. Gallippi, head of the virtual payment company Bitpay, explained to a subcommittee of the Senate Banking Committee that he believed Bitcoin had the power to transform the way Americans live their financial lives—not just through secure transactions, but by creating an immense ledger of property exchange, "a public record forever, for pennies."