[querulous]

something like bitcoin is an excellent match for a high level language (altho not necessarily python). the performance demands are all in the hashing algorithms (which are done by dedicated hardware, not software). it's way more important the control layer be correct than it be fast

[devishard]

I totally agree, in fact, I'd say "it's way more important to be correct than to be fast" is almost always true in cryptography. Incorrect crypto is useless no matter how fast it is.