Just wondering
I have a friend who started talking to me about bitcoins. Although I consider myself to be informed on technology, I guess I never really paid any attention to bitcoins or really knew what they were. At first when I read about them I laughed. I thought they were a scam. However, after reading more about the nature of bitcoins, how they were produced, how the blockchain keeps track of all of the transactions that ever occur with bitcoins and other things about them, I no longer thought of them as a scam and realized their potential to be a viable currency. I invested a small amount of funds in bitcoin through Coinbase just to that I could say that I was a part of this idea that I now believe could alter the way that funds are transferred between parties. I joined this forum so that I could talk to others about their experiences with bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies.
I also think that if bitcoin (or any other cryptocurrency) is going to succeed as a viable currency, two main things should happen:
1. More businesses need to be open to the idea of accepting bitcoin. I think that as more businesses are willing to accept bitcoins, more people will be open to the idea of using them as a currency.
2. Just as businesses accepting bitcoins will help stimulate the bitcoin economy, there must be a willingness on the part of people who own bitcoins to spend some of them rather than keep them only as an investment. Although it may be a good idea to keep some bitcoins as an investment (part of my bitcoin holding is as a speculative investment), I think that people need to be more willing to spend some of their bitcoins so that those businesses that are accepting will continue to accept them and possibly encourage more businesses to accept them.
There are probably many other things that could help to validate the currency as legitimate (recognition by governments and other financial institutions, having an open-minded public that is willing to recognize it as a legitimate currency). I am hoping that this currency will succeed since I think it could solve some of the problems we have with fiat currencies.