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MenuWhat are the professionals ideas about bitcoin and virtual currency?
Hey there! this is probably a little off topic because its not about startups so sorry about that.but recently i found about bitcoin.i got curious, i tried to read articles and watch videos about it.the whole idea sounds crazy and good but can we really trust in the whole thing as something revolutionary with a good future or is it just a bubble as some people like to call it ?
Answers
I understand your doubts. I had them too until I learned a little of how it works and then I saw several real opportunities for Bitcoin to be used.
I wrote a post on it with one example that can maybe help you understand:
https://medium.com/@JDcarlu/on-bitcoin-south-america-a080fe17179e
Bitcoins were designed to be – and, in many ways, are – the perfect digital currency: they’re frictionless, anonymous, and cryptographically astonishingly secure.Those strengths are also weaknesses. No one wants to risk losing millions of dollars worth of currency overnight, just because they were outsmarted by some computer hacker. Bitcoin isn’t the future. But it has helped to light the way of possibilities in creating a global currency..
Would I invest heavily in bitcoin? No. Do I think that cryptocurrency has a place in the future of the global economy? Absolutely.
I have worked in the payment industry and the current model is very outdated. Credit cards, banks and payment processors are essentially rent collectors for an infrastructure that could be totally replaced by bitcoin to the tune of anywhere from 1.5-3% of transactions. With many brick and mortar businesses out there operating on margins of 10% or less - this can be effectively 15-30% of profits. The opportunity for cryptocurrency to eliminate this is very exciting.
The jury is out on whether bitcoin will be the cryptocurrency that prevails long term, but the innovation behind it is essentially open source which is why so many cryptocurrencies are right in line if it ever fails.
It's a classic two sided market dilemma - consumers need to get used to using it to purchase and businesses need to get used to receiving it. Both need the other and both require stability in price, which ironically will not happen until critical mass is reached. It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation.
But like the gold rush of 1849, the real winners will be the people selling picks and shovels. This is why there was a ton of VC interest in the field through last year.
Bonus: Andreas Antonopoulos is a great speaker who puts the concept into plain English. Check out some of these interviews if you want to learn more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cexawnOlR8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnhGlgCm4MU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wwbzwUXfgc
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