"It's the kid who's buying watermelons on one side of town and selling them with a 50 percent markup on the other," Byrne said. That's pure capitalism and it's the only way to enrich people — by freeing them to use their creativity. "They don't need NGOs and World Bank nonsense… they need capital and rule of law."

Byrne's company, Overstock.com, was one of the first major mainstream online retailers to accept bitcoin payments, all the way back in January 2014. That move played a big part in getting bitcoin noticed. From there, he added blockchain-based "stock exchange" t0 or (tZERO) and Medici Investments, a fund created specifically to invest in blockchain startups.