Bitcoin Is Now More
Valuable Than Ever.
 |
| Bitcoin Digital Wallet |
Bitcoin value surpasses
gold in one ounce reaching $1,400 and is expected to soar in the coming months and years due to
mainstream adoption in many countries.
The recent "WannaCry" ransomware attacks across the world which attacked millions of
computers and healthcare infrastructures like the NHS UK across the world demanded money in the form of Bitcoin which is a digital currency as ransom
which increased its popularity across the world.
Countries India has witnessed the
boom of many Bitcoin trading platforms like Zebpay, Unocoin, etc. A single trading
platform like Zepbap has around 500000 users which is expected to grow with the impending regulation in the country. India
reported its first ever Bitcoin misappropriation case in the year 2016 in Ahmedabad amounting to Rupees 3.5 crores in Bitcoin.
According to CoinNewsAsia.com,
India aims at official recognition and a Bitcoin tax due to the recent change in Indian bank notes made digital currency
more popular. Engadget
reported Bitcoin use doubled in India this winter when the government
banned both the 500 and 1000 Rupee bank notes.
In April 2017 Japan officially recognized Bitcoin,
and other cryptocurrencies as legal tender. The United
States Securities Exchange Comission which earlier rejected bitcoin exchange
traded fund application in March but said it would be reconsidered. Russia
hopes to recognize cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as legal tender by 2018.
Other
digital cryptocurrenies like Ethereum, Ripple, Dash, Monero have made gains in its value and popularity among users. Digital currency like Ethereum
has quickly attracted interest from companies like Microsoft and JP Morgan Chase
The blockchain technology which is a public ledger that
records Bitcoin transactions has gained interests from companies like IBM and
other majors which can be used in many other applications like banking, retail, pharmaceuticals etc without the need for
any centralized authority who can manipulate the system due to excess concentration of power
in once centralized authority like centralized banks which have failed over the
years in many countries including the Leeman Brothers in 2008.
 |
Bitcoin Mining Farm in Iceland |
Some of the companies where Bitcoin is accepted as a mode of payment include Dell, Microsoft, Electronic Frontier Foundation to name a few. In 2013, Chinese Internet giant Baidu allowed clients of website security services to pay with Bitcoins.
The first Bitcoin ATM was installed in October 2013 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
 |
| A Bitcoin ATM in California |
To a question by Australian Senate as to how long Bitcoin
would take before it goes mainstream, Mr Antonios a Bitcoin proponent answered. The Internet took
15 years, Cellular Telephone took 10 years, the web took 7 years and the Bitcoin
will take 5 years before going mainstream.
He also added that monopolists like Visa and
Master Card who act as mere intermediaries to exchange money make billions of
dollars in commission for doing nothing should not be given the authority to
regulate the digital payments ecosystem which would be bad for customers,
increase transaction costs and result in manipulation and corruption. This would be something like letting the
railways regulate or monopolize the transport industry by putting brakes on
automobile innovation or allowing the telecom companies to regulate the Internet
and stifle innovation which is bad for consumers and the millions of unbanked
poor in developing countries like India and other places who can use Bitcoin to exchange money across the world without transaction fee or failure of their local banking system in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Greece, Venezuela and more.
No comments:
Post a Comment