I want to start this writing off saying that I am all for Bitcoin going TO THE MOON as it very well ALREADY HAS and MIGHT DECIDED MARS OR EVEN ANOTHER GALAXY NEXT! With this post I am playing a devils advocate and looking really deep at exactly what is going on with Bitcoin and if it has a future.
You could say that it’s been a very good year for the crypto based currency known as bitcoin. It’s been an even better one for the early investors who hopped on in the early days and held their stake. However, for those who had a much more futuristic goal in mind, of the cryptocurrency becoming existing tender for the internet, it might be a bitter pill to swallow. The architect of this revolutionary asset had intended it to be a peer-to-peer transaction system, which didn’t need the regulation procedures of banking authorities. Moreover, bitcoin has instead become an investment platform, which has been seized by many investors on the infamous Wall Street.
People need a way of storing their hard earned money in ways which are more refined than stuffing it in the walls. Historically, the best practice was purchase precious metals like gold or silver with the hopes that the value of said metals would appreciate in value over the years. The problem with this path, is that as economies have grown, it was a necessity for society to move towards what’s known as fiat currencies. This fiat currency (the paper that we carry round with us in our wallets and purses) wasn’t intrinsically valuable. Bitcoin was Nakamoto’s attempt to undo this building a digital equivalent to gold.
Nakamoto’s vision of creating a digital asset to undermine the natural order of the finance world, has definitely paid off. The cryptocurrency has made gains of over 1000% in the space of 12 months! In the past 12 months, the price of bitcoin has risen from over $700 to its highest of over $19,000, and it’s still climbing.
The gains the original investors will have been making is unimaginable, if you had bought $100 worth of bitcoin in the beginning, your stake will be worth $1.7 million now. However, this surge of popularity from the investment community is quickly eroding any chance of bitcoin being transformed into a stable method of exchange in the future. You see, currencies need to remain stable to ensure that commerce can take place, and although you see fluctuations in the forex market, it’s nowhere near as volatile as bitcoin has been.
This evidence has lead countless people to believe that Bitcoin is more of an asset than a currency, and it should be taken lightly. The increased volatility has been its own downfall, because it has stripped bitcoin of the characteristics needed to make it a suitable currency. Instead it has all the characteristics of a speculative bubble, and some even view it as a ‘get rich quick scheme’. For companies and authorities to take the cryptocurrency seriously, there needs to be some sort of stability to prevent it from falling victim to volatile swings.
To further present evidence of bitcoin being an asset, rather than a respectable alternative to fiat currency, people are far more likely to buy and hold it in the hopes of it appreciating in value. Such activities are not suitable for something which was designed to go against the status quo and fiat currencies. It’s simply unsustainable.
The levels of volatility seen in the asset makes for very dangerous dealings, because it could be worth $19,000 in the morning, and in the evening it could have lost $2,000 of its value and worth $15,000.
Even though I believe Nakamoto had good intentions when creating bitcoin, the clutches of capitalism have turned it into something that it should never have been. An asset for people to make gains on, rather than a genuine new form of digital currency to overthrow banking institutions and build up a form of trust for the people.
Thier are however are other coins out there that are really looking good as far as being sustainable. Bitcoin may very well still have MUCH more room to grow but in the long run people will eventually learn it's downfalls. I myself make sure to diversify as much as possible and I still have my amount tucked away for the long term HODL just in case.
The way I see it right now is that Ethereum should be the price that Bitcoin is and Bitcoin should look more like some new alt coins.
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