I have written a series of stories for the IBM site SecurityIntelligence.com. While many of us think about alternative currencies (like this photo of a rental agency in NYC that will rent you an apartment in Bitcoin), banks are leveraging the blockchain technologies to produce more efficient funds transfer mechanisms, and others are getting involved in blockchain for more mundane and non-financial reasons. And there are even some companies who are paying their employees in Bitcoin because it could be a more stable currency.

Finally, here is a post summarizing some of my beginner mistakes with getting involved in Bitcoin experiments, should you want to avoid them yourself.