The Bitcoin Question: Buy Now or Cry Later?

I’m sure by now most who are reading this article have heard the analogy comparing where we are in Bitcoin to the early days of the internet. Those with the foresight and courage to embrace new technology 20 years ago emerged as the leaders of today’s global economy. It is clear that those who embraced the idea of the internet first were right and those who doubted it were wrong. What is it that separates people into these groups though? The first group being those who embrace technology and the other being the skeptics. It could be many things.

Age seems to be a major factor involved in Bitcoin skepticism. As I look over the Bitcoin landscape, a commonality among the detractors of Bitcoin is that they mostly are older people. People like Warren Buffet, Paul Krugman, and others who dislike bitcoin are older people. Imagine seeing the world changed by the information revolution and still being close minded about the coming revolution in money. Some people never learn. When I speak about Bitcoin to people who are technology savvy, typically under 40 years old, they have much more interesting things to say about it, positive or negative, than those who rally against it. Psychologically, the detractors could be clinging to what they are comfortable with because, let’s face it, change can be frightening. Just look at the state of gay marriage and the uproar its legalization has caused. That will be nothing compared to the frenzy that will occur once the fiat system implodes under the weight of its own debt. It would be safe to assume that most tech savvy people and younger people are more likely to understand and support Bitcoin than those who see the status quo as set in stone.

What’s wrong with the status quo? Oh, nothing much. The US is only $18 trillion in debt — that is not a big deal. It doesn’t matter that the Fed has set the interest rate at 0% for an extended period of time. It is not a big issue that this basically means that the Fed has been printing free money and giving it to the banks. Of course, it’s not an issue that the banks have lent out this money and put the population in unsustainable debt. Oh, and it definitely doesn’t matter that if the Fed raises the interest rates, the whole thing just might collapse. Everything is fine and dandy; move along, nothing to see here.

 

If the Fed raises interest rates, this causes the amount of interest that people have to pay on their credit cards to go up. It tightens the money supply, which causes stocks to go down. If the money supply is tighter, then how can people pay their debts? People already struggle to make the minimum and when that is increased, they will simply not pay. I am not the only person claiming that the current system is unsustainable. A quick Google search will show you plenty of evidence supporting this case. However, one thing is certain: technology is continually developing and the brightest minds are working on Bitcoin. Did I mention that bitcoin is immune to the free money policy of the government?

 

What gives Bitcoin its value? In fact what gives the dollar value? The dollar is backed by the United States government. If some guy wanted to borrow ten dollars and I know that he is already $10,000 in debt, it’s logical to assume that his backing is not worth very much. So, we are supposed to give intrinsic value to a piece of paper backed up by an entity that is already $18 trillion in debt? Completely logical!

So, the question remains, what is bitcoin backed by? It is backed up by the largest and strongest computer network in the world: the blockchain. This is the first time in human history that we have an immutable ledger. If you cannot see the intrinsic value in transacting on a system that completely eliminates negative human qualities when it comes to trade, then you can just sit on the side lines while the rest of us get rich. (Note: while there are still bad actors, many of them in this ecosystem, they act badly in ways that are not related to the blockchains infrastructure) The blockchain can be trusted. The only way to effectively cheat the blockchain is to obtain 51% of the network’s hash rate which, is virtually impossible. The sheer amount of ASICs and electricity that the attack would cost makes it so far out of the range of possibilities that it can be reasonably discounted.

 

Children today are growing up with iPads and smart phones. They are inundated with technology at an early age, and they are comfortable with it. Not to mention that it is not difficult to copy and paste a bitcoin address or scan a qr code, then learn the denominations. That is literally the learning curve for using bitcoin as a transaction medium. Securing coins is another story, though with hardware wallets on the rise that should not be an issue for long either. As society becomes more technologically advanced it is safe to assume that all aspects of life will be advanced by said technology, money included. In fact it’s already happening.

So young people, tech savvy people, and the educated are all flocking to bitcoin. That is the future. I didn’t even get into the advantages of using bitcoin yet. I can send something that has an agreed upon value at the time of transaction to a person that  I don’t even know who lives in Iceland, China, India, Africa, or anywhere else in the world. Nothing else can accomplish this feat. Just this ability alone is enough to give Bitcoin “intrinsic value.” Bitcoin is a GLOBAL currency. Oh and did I mention that there can only be 21 million of them? Let’s factor in Satoshis coins and lost coins, there will probably be in the ball park of 19 million coins total. This number can never be increased. There are 14 million bitcoins today. That is enough for each person in the world to own .002 bitcoins. That is it. (http://bitcoinsperperson.com/) If bitcoin becomes the accepted form of global transaction then the value of a single coin would be enormous.

There is the perfect storm coming. Intelligent minds are gathering to bitcoin. The fiat system is close to collapse. Bitcoin is reaching new markets and mainstream consciousness is increasing. It is just a matter of time until the general population sees how useful this technology is. All I can say is get yourself some coins. In the worst case scenario bitcoin fails and you lose say $230 if you bought a single coin. In a more plausible scenario, well lets just say I’ll see you on the moon.

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The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of Bitcoinist.net.