42: The Answer to Almost Everything — Season 1, Episode 26: Are Cryptocurrencies the Future?

Episode synopsis

In September 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to introduce Bitcoin as legal tender. From now on, all companies accept the cryptocurrency from their customers, as well as the US dollar. "A crazy idea," says former economist Peter Bofinger. The price of bitcoin is far too volatile, and it's a dangerous bet - one that the president thinks he can pull off.

About 42: The Answer to Almost Everything

What would we be without mucus? Can we live on water? How much does life weigh? Finding out the answers is the aim of ARTE's new science show. In a nod to Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", where the figure 42 is the ultimate answer to all questions, 42 tries to provide the answers.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1Can we dig our way through the Earth?
• E2Could We Live on the Moon?
• E3Should we use lotteries instead of elections?
• E4How Much Does Life Weigh?
• E5Will we move onto the water?
• E6Can Algorithms Make Us Healthy?
• E7What if there were no mucus?
• E8How do we solve the nuclear waste puzzle?
• E9What if Fear Didn't Exist?
• E10What if the ice disappeared?
• E11Do We All hear the Same Thing?
• E12Are we too pessimistic?