Last year, the pendulum of interest swung towards Bitcoin’s underlying technology as 2015 was dubbed the “Year of the Blockchain.” Banking giants formed consortiums and research groups to study the technology as the term became a buzzword synonymous with financial innovation.

Wall St. veteran Tone Vays, who attended the recent Consensus event in New York, confirmed as much. “The overall sentiment was pretty high but is was clear that the focus of the tech has fully shifted to blockchain,” he told Bitcoin.com. “There were almost no discussions of Bitcoin itself. This is a bit unfortunate as there are a few people that see Bitcoin as being the only blockchain of relevance and those presenters were few and far between.”

However, the irony of the situation is that as incumbent financial giants tout their blockchain ambitions, Bitcoin’s credibility also gets a boost in the eyes of the public, particularly in tandem with a rising price. This results in a positive feedback loop where increased public interest results in more and more people becoming informed on the topic, ultimately leading to the realization that Bitcoin is the most secure, most popular and the most valuable public blockchain in existence today.