My response to "Bitcoin Is An Insult To Markets." -
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bitcoin-speculation-gop-tax-cuts_us_5a2eeeb3e4b078950282cfbd?ncid=APPLENEWS00001
Huffington Post - By Zach Carter https://twitter.com/zachdcarter
Ok - of course they will say this. Face it.
We were all taught that money takes the shape of a paper bill in the form of US dollars, and back in the day people traded with everyday items like spices, shells, livestock. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/history-money.html
Why? because people accepted them as a form of payment/store of value and exchange. A market existed in the form of buyers and sellers.
Bitcoin is disrupting "traditional" money.
Bitcoin or digital currency is considerd "money" a "medium of exchange" in it's digital form created by the people in a decentralized way (a few cryptographic nerds "cypherpunks
" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypherpunk as they call them - that made it secure, and limited it's supply) not printed by a goverment that inflates and devalues it's currency.
It's a pure "electronic" medium of exchange that can be sent without geographic boundaries quickly, and has a value based on supply and demand.
Yes, it's not backed by any government, but it has become an accepted "store of value" like gold and other precious metals, and a medium of exchange (not the best from a technology standpoint others have faster and cheaper methods of sending). Bitcoin has became popular the same way Facebook did aka: the Network Effect - the value of a product or service increases according to the number of others using it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect
Yes, speculators have driven the price up, hyped it a bit much - just as they did with other items (because they understand what it's all about and how it's not just a tulip craze). Digital money has more use in todays technological industrial revolution. More than carrying around a gold bar, spices, or loose coins.
But, it's not going away. It will be regulated, taxed, but accepted. Not outlawed. So they can say it's going to crash, and it may go up and down. But its invention has disrupted money just as Amazon.com has disrupted Retail.
The story goes on....