Is Bitcoin Failing, Forgotten or Simply Fluctuating
Earlier this year, one of the most prominent developers of Bitcoin, Mike Hearn, wrote an article on his Medium account about the failure of Bitcoin. Hearn claimed to have sold all of his Bitcoin ownership and broken all connections with the currency. According to Hearn, "Bitcoin is an experiment and like all experiments, it can fail."
One would think that an announcement of that nature would cause the value of Bitcoins to take a significant drop. And that is exactly what happened. The Bitcoin price fell from $429 to $358 in a single day. This this isn't by any means the biggest drop Bitcoin has seen in a single day, it was still a significant blow to Bitcoin advocates. Many people joined Hearn in claiming that the age of Bitcoin was over and that it would eventually lose all value. Here is a quick look at Bitcoin values since then.
As you can see, Bitcoin has done anything but fail since January 2016. Instead the value has continued on a steady march upwards, at times nearly doubling its value from early January.
Many are left wondering if Bitcoin is a valid long term investment solution, or even a short term solution for money transfer. The simple answer to the question is that nobody knows. There are some things that will need to happen for Bitcoin to survive and thrive.
The first thing is more familiarity. Bitcoin uses something called Blockchain, which is basically a digital ledger of transactions that can be shared amongst computers. Blockchain is relatively new, as are the concepts behind it. Many people are unfamiliar with Bitcoin, Blockchain, and the entire idea of cryptocurrency. This obviously leaves people wary and unwilling to use it as their preferred method for currency transfer. If Bitcoin can become a household word and creative positive media vibes, they should continue to excel.
The second thing is regulation. People will only feel more comfortable with Bitcoin if it is regulated and they know they will not lose all of their money. The problem is Bitcoin cannot really be regulated because it is a decentralized currency. This is partly why so many criminals use it for various nefarious activities. However, currently there are plenty of experts working with European and US regulators to try and develop logical regulations. Should they succeed in finding a way that works, Bitcoin should continue to see gains.
The last thing, and this is already happening, is that big names need to start validating Bitcoin. You can already use it on Expedia, Overstock, Dell, and multiple other large brands websites. However, it is not an option with most purchases. As more online retailers add Bitcoin payment options to their portals people will begin to feel more comfortable with the currency.
Bitcoin has also become an easy thing to trade. There are plenty of Bitcoin specific brokers, but there are ways to trade in Bitcoin ETFs via just about any broker now. Here is a list of online stock brokers that allow you to trade in Bitcoin.
Currently it looks as if Hearn was wrong in his thoughts on Bitcoin. Yes, the currency has quite a few issues to work out. Yes, it is being controlled by a few individuals making it extremely hard to advance the technology. However, in the end, Bitcoin, or at least the concept of it, is the future of currency.
