The invention of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) in 2008 was just the first step in what has been a long roller-coaster ride for cryptocurrencies. Since then, the market has expanded from that single asset to thousands of tokens. Although not all of them are needed -- a harsh truth that the market is currently dealing with -- the underlying technology that crypto runs on is proving that it has the potential to shake up a host of industries.

One of the original goals behind Bitcoin's invention was to allow users to circumvent banks and traditional financial institutions. With blockchain-based cryptocurrencies, users can send money to each other without the need for the transaction to be processed by an institutional intermediary. 

For these reasons, banks and other traditional finance entities are starting to migrate their operations to blockchain-based solutions that make them more efficient and transparent. At least, that's what the chief executive officer of the world's largest money management company thinks. 

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Source Fool.com