The shift from physical to digital representation is transforming how society perceives value, identity, and technology.

In a recent conversation, Roundtable anchor Rob Nelson and Steve Gutterman, CEO of Gryphon Digital Mining , discussed the challenges and advancements in accepting cryptocurrencies like bitcoin as legitimate forms of value storage.

"I get intuitively why it's hard for many people to understand the idea of things moving from physical to representational or digital," Rob Nelson reflected, recalling an experience in rural China 40 years ago where the concept of photography was foreign. He noted, "Those same people go, yeah, but this other stuff, this is just made up — bitcoin's just numbers."

Steve Gutterman offered a contrasting perspective on the pace of acceptance. "Think about the tremendous progress and acceptance that we've made in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies over a relatively short period of time," he said. He compared the current shift to historical changes in currency standards, stating, "Think about how much resistance there was to going off the gold standard... but eventually it happened."

Nelson acknowledged the progress but highlighted ongoing skepticism. "I still run into so many people who don't seem to comprehend... because it's not physical," he observed. Looking ahead, he envisioned a world where "we will have digital identities that will seem as real as our physical identities," suggesting that advancements like AI and the metaverse will become mainstream.

Agreeing with this forward-looking view, Gutterman emphasized the rapid technological evolution. "We tend to think that every month feels like a year and every year feels like a decade," he remarked. Highlighting the remarkable acceptance of cryptocurrency, he added, "When you think about the fact that the U.S. government... will be contemplating keeping crypto reserves... all of that has happened over the course of a decade or two. It's actually pretty amazing."