Written by TCS Contributor, Kotei Nikoi.
We should’ve seen this coming a long time ago. Ever since banking became an online affair, the dawn of the virtual currency has been inevitable. Is this the beginning of the end for money as we know it?
Well, not anytime soon.
For starters, Bitcoin relies entirely on the traditional currencies as of 2017 – you need to purchase Bitcoin, like any other good. So you trade your hard earned cash for some matrix money. Although, this doesn’t sound too different to how we already use our money when you really think about it…
What is interesting about Bitcoin is that it has seen a sharp increase in public awareness and cost 9 years after it was launched. The interesting part is that it wasn’t the first, or the last virtual currency that popped up online, but it is by far the most popular. Why?
Well that previous statement is somewhat misleading. It isn’t the first currency online, but it is the first “decentralised” currency – The first whose price is not dictated by a bank/government. The legality of all of this is still up in arms, but like anything else that makes its way online, even money can be Rule 34’d (don’t look that up.).
The price of 1 Bitcoin rose dramatically between March 2016 and March 2017. This is a move from around $400 to near $1000. What does this mean to you? Well, if you had bought 1 Bitcoin back then, you could have sold it and made over $500 in profit 12 months later.
I know, this just sounds like some “in-hindsight” stock advice, but this in entirely not the case – Bitcoin is on the rise and unlike purchasing arbitrary stocks in oil that you have no use for, even if you didn’t sell the Bitcoin you bought at $400, you can actually use it to buy things online.
Even if you didn’t spend it, the price is on a constant upward average price increase.
Think of it this way: Bitcoin is still considered to be in its early days.
To get a bit more technical on this subject, a lot of studying should be done but I will keep it short – the production of Bitcoin is halving – therefore its value is increasing. (Now you know everything you need to know about macroeconomics.)
The reality as of 2017, is that Bitcoin still resides in the dark corners of the internet. As enticing as it might be to buy into a virtual currency which, we should add, can be used to buy products from forward thinking companies like Tesla (a company at the forefront of technology), it is also the currency of choice for sites that would otherwise show up as “not secure” in your URL bar. Websites like the (now defunct) Silk Road for example…(see: Modafinil.).
Buuut whatever way you look at it, the list of websites is growing. And it will keep growing as long as there is internet, because as long as there is internet there will be virtual currency.
Whether that will be Bitcoin or not in future remains to be seen. As a matter of fact, there are multiple cryptocurrencies which we will be discussing in posts to come.
You should not be surprised when cash disappears entirely. With the recent calls for dispensing of the beloved 1 and 2p coins in the UK, calls from some corners of Europe to abolish cash altogether, it’s clear dramatic changes are on the way. And if you don’t want to regret missing the “Crypto-bubble” (just like you missed out the tech bubble, and the dot-com bubble before it, only to be rewarded with the Credit Crunch of 07-08) read a little and take a gamble.
This may be one of those opportunities that you thought you would never see again.
This article was first posted on The YP Zone.
