Digital money is on the rise: The Internet currencies have become enormously expensive and are increasingly accepted as a means of payment. Even ordinary investors can benefit from Bitcoin & Co.'s boom.
For most, a book with seven seals, for some a thing with high risks, others see a bubble and more and more tremendous opportunities: bitcoins draw their circles and the price increases and rises. In 2017 the price has already tripled from about 1000 dollars to the start of the year to 2700 dollars and in the view of twelve months there is a price increase to six times. In 2010 a unit cost only $ 0.30.
Quite a few prophesy soon courses of 3000 dollars, and how it will go with the price of bitcoins, no one can say. As with stocks or many other investments, this also depends on supply and demand. Because of the rapidly growing fan base there could be further and enormous increases.
More information
Start in 2009
Bitcoins are a digital currency. It was invented under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto and the launch was in 2009 with 50 Bitcoins. In the meantime, approximately 16.4 million of these funds are already in circulation worldwide with a current value of 44.9 billion dollars. Bitcoins are divisible into smaller units up to a hundred-millionth, and parts are called Satoshi.
While some use the digital money to pay - for example because of the high transparency of the payments and the lack of state monitoring, low transaction fees and enormous transaction speed of just a few minutes worldwide - others only rely on speculative gains.
The salary is halved
Either way, this money system is independent of states and banks. It is not controlled by banknotes, as in the case of francs, dollars or euros, but by means of complex computing processes in computers that process bitcoin transactions in so-called mining. Miners are currently receiving 12.5 bitcoins for new data blocks.
However, this mining salary is halved by a total of 210,000 newly generated data blocks worldwide. Experts expect the next halving to 6.5 bitcoins per block by 2020. The reduction of the mining wage and the time-consuming computing efforts are intended to prevent too much inflation, ie the expansion of the bitcoin quantity.
Increasing difficulties
Thus the difficulties of Bitcoinprotokoll increase with increasing number of miners and the costs - especially for the power for the computer - then too much increase, Mining is worthwhile again less. Accordingly, the speed at which new bitcoins are put into circulation drops accordingly. The maximum Bitcoin money is already limited by a network protocol to 21 million units and is estimated to be reached around 2100.
There is enormous imagination. On the one hand there is the limitation of the bitocoin money supply, on the other hand there is an increasing demand. Not just from speculators. Bitcoins are increasingly accepted as payment means. For example, the Japanese government has classified the currency as legal cash at the beginning of April, and this is being accepted by more and more companies in Asia.
US stock exchange supervisors are taking part
There could also be additional movement in bitcoin demand on the part of the USA. For example, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is now again advising on the admission of a first Bitcoin index fund by the Internet companies Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. So an ETF would make bitcoins as an investment naturally even more attractive.
But also Russian President Vladimir Putin is interested in digital currencies and sees economic opportunities for his country. Specifically, the virtual currency Ethereum goes back to the Russian programmer Vitalik Buterin. Ethereum works similar to Bitcoin and also enjoys fast-growing popularity.
Ethereum course on the up
Although this digital money started only two years ago, 92.3 million units with a total value of 23.9 billion dollars are already in circulation. Since then, the course has risen to about 350 times, and since the beginning of the year there has been a plus of 3000 percent - an increase to 30 times! In addition to the two market leaders, there are still a whole series of other digital currencies.
As the mining is rather something for IT specialists, normal investors come to Bitcoins or Ethereum by buying on a trading platform on the Internet. For an overview of the various options, please visit the Buy Bitcoin Worldwide page. The largest broker for Bitcoins worldwide is Coinbase.
In trusts the mail goes off
If you are looking for an investment vehicle and are looking to make further gains, you will examine both Grayscale's Bitcoin Investment Trust (ISIN: US09173T1088, annual management fee two percent) or the Ethereum Classic Investment Trust (ISIN: US2976441061, annual management fee three percent). Like the digital currencies, the trusts are also sending off the mail.
The vehicle on bitcoins has already quintupled this year.