joining us is peter van valkenburgh. he is a research director at coin center.org.e will talk about your organization. let's begin by talking about cryptocurrency, bitcoins, what are they? guest: bitcoin is the original cryptocurrency. the first one that was ever launched in 2009. there is a bunch of them now. in general, they can be thought of as digital cash. when you want to move money around, you usually have two options. you can use cash and be in person and hand somebody a $100 bill or take it from somebody. hopefully, legally. or you can use a bank to send it electronically from person to person, over the internet. bitcoin is cash like in that you can hold it or have it directly, you do not have to trust the bank to hold it for you it works electronically -- hold it for you. but it works electronically like a bank transfer. i will send it to a code and the bitcoin moves like cash. host: we were talking to our producer about email and how 25 years ago, that was a novel idea. now it is a standard way of life. and you envision bitcoin will be a standard way we m

we will try to explain that with peter van valkenburgh. the think tank -- he is with the think tank known as coin center. washington journal continues. it is friday, the 28th of may. part of a memorial day weekend. we are back in a moment. ♪ >> on memorial day, join our live conversation, marking the 100th anniversary of the tulsa race massacre. our guest is local author and attorney hannibal johnson, whose latest book is black wall street 100. an american city grapples with a historical racial trauma. watch at 8:30 eastern on american history tv. >> c-span shop.org is c-span's online store. your purchases will support our nonprofit operations. you still have time to order the congressional directory with contact information for members of congress and the biden administration. go to c-span shop.org. >> washington journal continues. host: the think tank is called coin center. joining us is peter van valkenburgh. he is a research director at coin center.org. we will talk about your organization. let's begin by talking about cryptocurrency,

joining us is peter van valkenburgh. he is a research director at coin center.org. your organization.

host: our guest is the research director peter van valkenburgh joining us in washington. thank you for that explanation. >> c-span's washington journal. every day we take your calls live on the air. we discussed policy issues. coming up saturday morning, we discussed president biden's fiscal year 2022 budget. also aaron durkin from the national journal discusses her recent article. that's life that 7:00 a.m. eastern and be sure to watch lost earning -- washington journal on memorial day for a live conversation marking the 100th anniversary of the tulsa race massacre. join your discussion with your phone calls, texts, and tweets. >> this is the mother of u.s. police officer brian sitnik who died after the january 6 attack. she visited the capital thursday asking republican senators to supported bipartisan commission to investigate the attack. she was a couple died by -- she was accompanied by barbara comstock. [inaudible chatter] >> just look at the footage of what all these people and through and all these police officers did to make them safe, to keep them safe. >> we wa