Although the Federation as shown in Star Trek is a communist utopia, when they do dealings with other races often a currency is needed. Gold-pressed latinum is the standard in the series since it cannot be replicated, but don't you think they would have have a cryptocurrency like bitcoin by that point? I want to discuss the pros and cons of dealing in bitcoin (digital, immaterial, but those can be both beneficial and non) or a physical good (the aforementioned gold-pressed latinum.) Bitcoin seems like it has similar benefits, where as latinum is unable to be replicated, bitcoins are limited to 21m total. What do you guys think? I think it would make certain transactions smoother (weapons trades and the like) if you just had to transfer bitcoins to the seller rather than ship them latinum which, who knows, could be seized or the ship carrying it could be blown up or whatever.