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"Bitcoin rose to prominence as a virtual currency, but its underlying technology will quietly alter industries from finance to advertising and ultimately win over consumers, the CEO of bitcoin startup 21 Inc. said Wednesday.

In an interview at the WSJDLive global technology conference, Balaji Srinivasan said bitcoin’s path could mirror that of the open-source software Linux, which isn't well-known by consumers but underpins the Android mobile-operating system and other key pieces of technology.

“What happened is Linux won but by stealth,” Mr. Srinivasan, whose startup is backed by venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, where he is a board partner. “In the same way, I think that a lot of people are going to be using bitcoin without realizing they’re using bitcoin.”

Recently, the technology at bitcoin’s core has gained attention for its potential to change the way companies do business. Bitcoin is widely seen as a form of money today, but over time bitcoin will come to be seen as “a protocol,” Mr. Srinivasan said.

For example, blockchain technology—which allows the bitcoin network to track the currency’s movement from one online wallet to another—can be used to improve transparency and accountability in financial transactions, allowing a deeper level of financial auditing, Mr. Srinivasan said. “You can track every cent.”

Blockchain technology could provide a new way to pay for content that is currently supported by advertising, he added.

But the technology’s rise hinges on when it is incorporated into devices, just as the growth of the Internet was spurred in part by Microsoft Corp.’s decision to build Internet protocols into Windows, he said.

“We think something similar is going to happen with bitcoin where once bitcoin is built into devices, and devices natively have the capacity to turn power into digital currency, then a whole new class of applications will be built on the Internet,” Mr. Srinivasan said."