Why everyone should take Bitcoin seriouslyOver the past few days Bitcoin has delighted us with an unprecedented rise: the coin has topped its ATH several times on its way to its current one of $28000, and at the time of writing is trading at 🚀 $31700. We believe this is the best proof that it is time to take BTC seriously.
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What actually is Bitcoin? It is a decentralised version of money in the same way that the internet is the decentralised version of information. It was the first form of electronic money that does not require a central entity to validate transactions. One of the main differences between BTC and all other forms of digital money that ever existed is that you don’t have to trust a third party to use it. All transactions on the BTC networks are fully transparent and traceable.
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How does it do this?Instead of having a centralised database which one party (such as a bank) controls, the members of the network collectively validate the transactions and therefore check that the same money isn’t being spent twice. Disagreements are resolved by majority vote — if more than 50% of the computing power of the network validates a transaction, then it is entered into the distributed database (this consensus mechanism is called ‘proof of work’).
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Bitcoin as a store of valueIf in October 2009 you bought just $5.02 worth of Bitcoin, which is 5,050 BTC, today you would be a dollar millionaire! A profit of millions of percent in just 11 years is not bad, is it? However, Bitcoin remains a great store of value and profitable instrument, since it historically had these three characteristics:
🔹 Store of value — something is a good store of value if it keeps its value over time.
🔹 Medium of exchange — this is the key quality of money, being able to trade it easily for other goods and services.
🔹 Unit of account — when a form of money is both seen as a store of value, and is widely used as a medium of exchange, it becomes a unit of account.
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Why will Bitcoin continue growing? Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency that gets more and more fans and followers each day. People value the opportunities it provides: anonymity, freedom, transaction speed, independence from government…
In the modern world where currencies are constantly losing value because of political decisions and inflation, where governments reserve the right to freeze accounts and cut off certain individuals from accessing their own finances, Bitcoin enables them all of the freedom without having to trust anyone. And if our collective belief in the value of government money is dented, Bitcoin with its dominant network, its fixed supply, its almost infinite divisibility (the smallest possible unit is called a satoshi — 1/100 millionth of a Bitcoin) and its portability is a possible alternative. How much would one bitcoin be worth in this scenario? Well, certainly a lot more than it is now.