Bitcoin is apparently less popular, but not to worry! There are now Crypto-competitors on the scene…
If you’re unsure of what Bitcoins are then what you’ve heard on the news will be that it is associated with nothing more than black market online drug exchanges. The clampdown on the Dark Web a couple of years ago was big news, and it gave Bitcoin a bad name. But the reality is that Bitcoin is actually a perfectly viable, untraceable method of online purchasing. The payment is encrypted from both ends, which provided the crypto-currency the ability to make all buyers and sellers anonymous. And with no central banking system or government involvement, it’s no wonder the media jumped at the chance to besmirch a method of trade that had no government regulations.
What always happens when a front-runner’s reputation is fractured is the opportunity for others to have a chance to compete, and that is exactly what has happened with Bitcoin. A currency less than two years old (funny the time it cropped up isn’t it?) has risen up the ranks of currencies, making it the first and by far the largest competition to Bitcoin. ‘Ethereum’ has gone from nothing to being seemingly the only crypto-currency to give Bitcoin a run for its money, so to speak, in the world of online transactions. According to RT Online, some experts have claimed that the Ethereum is well set to overtake Bitcoin as the top crypto-currency for online purchasing.
My view on the matter is that it’s about time that crypto-currency finally has a place in the real-world economy. Kay Van-Peterson, a Russian analyst at Saxo Bank, predicts that digital currencies will account for ten percent of flat currency trade. A decade! And not only this, despite Bitcoin having the reputation it began with, its stock has only ever gone up. In June 2017 it broke the $2900 mark, and Van-Peterson claims that in the same decade that will see the ten percent of flat currency trade being digital, the stock of Bitcoin will see north of $100,000.
I always like to consider the potential of crypto-currencies a little idealistically. In reality, the fact that there is an association with illicit trade and blackmarket dealings isn’t entirely inaccurate, however it is only a small part of what could be potentially a financial revolution for the digital age. Mark my words, not long from now the same association will be made, by the media or by Parliament, with cash money. A cashless future is on the cards, but what hasn’t been factored by those who seek to be able to tax all financial transactions in one way or another is that centralised banking now could be facing an alternative. An alternative ran by those who created it, and hopefully clear in the understanding of what the failures of their predecessors were, and the moral compass to distribute wealth in a way that has seen the introduction of the term ‘The 1%’.
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