Why Is Bitcoin Worth Anything
Why Is Bitcoin Worth Real Money Right Now
Bitcoin

The outcome of our analysis on the Bitcoin Trader platform leads us to support the claims that Bitcoin Trader is 100% legit and can assist new and experienced traders in generating a passive income and growing their wealth. It is estimated that a new user can earn between €200 and €1000 every week. May 30, 2021 A bitcoin was worth 34,843 U.S. Dollars as of May 30, 2021. All the bitcoins in the world were worth roughly $653 billion. The combined value of bitcoin was equivalent to just 1.7% of the world's.

A company called Coinbase has gone public, and Wall Street seems excited. Coinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange—it allows you to buy, store, and trade cryptocurrencies, which are invented kinds of alternative moneys. The most well-known of these are Bitcoin and Ethereum, but there are 4,000 different kinds of these invented new forms of money. (If you’d like to start your own currency, you can.)

Coinbase’s debut on the stock market has been called “the crypto event of the year,” “the coming-out party for crypto,” and it went well. CNN reports that “the groundswell of investor interest is hugely validating for both the crypto economy and the companies that have cropped up to support it.” Vox says that “you should probably start paying attention to bitcoin” because the success of Coinbase shows that it has gone “from nerdy curiosity to mainstream investing opportunity and payment method.” “Once mocked as a tool for criminals and reckless speculators,” reports the New York Times, cryptocurrency “is sliding into the mainstream.”

If it’s mainstream now and we should pay attention to it, it’s a good idea if we try to understand what it is and what its economic implications are. You may have ignored Bitcoin because the evangelists for it are some of the most insufferable people on the planet—and you may also have kicked yourself because if you had listened to the first guy you met who told you about Bitcoin way back, you’d be a millionaire today. But now it’s time to understand: is this, as its proponents say, the future of money?

Many discussions of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency—I am going to use “Bitcoin” and “cryptocurrency” interchangeably for convenience, even though Bitcoin is just a specific cryptocurrency—begin with a long explanation of the blockchain technology that makes it possible. I think for the purposes of talking about what Bitcoin means and does, this is a mistake and a distraction—like having a discussion about the social effects of air travel by talking about how ailerons work. What matters for the purposes of our discussion is that it’s a made-up alternate system of money that, because it’s built on blockchain technology, can be transferred from one person to another without having to go through a bank or a payment processor. Because you don’t have to use a bank, and can easily transfer bitcoin from person to person, it is also “private,” in the sense that you don’t have to give anyone your credit card information or even your name to transfer funds. This makes it particularly attractive to criminals, because it’s sort of like the digital equivalent of cash: easy to hide, tough to trace. And because it’s not tied to a national government, Bitcoin can be used around the world without having to convert currency.

There are many who see this as revolutionary and important. “The popularity of this form of currency is expected to grow exponentially, as it is decentralized, safe, and anonymous,” reads one analysis. “The fact that a huge section of technology-savvy individuals and companies are favoring the decision of using different form of encrypted currencies clearly indicates that the future of Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies as a whole is going to be bright.” Across the internet, you can find blog posts and explainers that tout the benefits and possibilities of this new form of currency. Some people in positions of power agree: “This is the revolution,” said Rep. David Schweikert, a Republican member of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus. “We just have to sell it.”

I’ve been among those who have ignored cryptocurrency for a long time, but Vox has told me I am no longer allowed to, so I’ve read up on it. And I have to say, Schweikert is partly right: “selling it as a revolution” is a hugely important part of why cryptocurrency is succeeding. But as is generally the case when someone is trying to sell you something, the whole thing should seem extremely fishy. In fact, much of the cryptocurrency pitch is worse than fishy. It’s downright fraudulent, promising people benefits that they will not get and trying to trick them into believing in and spreading something that will not do them any good. When you examine the actual arguments made for using cryptocurrencies as currency, rather than just being wowed by the complex underlying system and words like “autonomy,” “global,” and “seamless,” the case for their use by most people collapses utterly. Many believe in it because they have swallowed libertarian dogmas that do not reflect how the world actually works.

Let’s start with the basic promise, that of being “decentralized, safe, and anonymous.” People like the word decentralized. I like it a lot myself. Nobody likes centralized authority. You know who liked things centralized? Stalin. But what does the word actually mean? In this instance, it means that financial transactions are peer to peer, rather than going through your bank or a processor like PayPal, and that there is no central bank altering the money supply, as there is with the U.S. dollar. Many of the pitches for Bitcoin begin by emphasizing its decentralized nature.

“Unlike services like Venmo and PayPal, which rely on the traditional financial system for permission to transfer money and on existing debit/credit accounts, bitcoin is decentralized: any two people, anywhere in the world, can send bitcoin to each other without the involvement of a bank, government, or other institution.” — CoinBase
“You Are in the Driver’s Seat — One of the best things about cryptocurrency is that, unlike virtually any other type of money retaining system (save for a wall safe or your wallet) you totally own it. Think about it: most traditional liquid asset systems – banks, credit unions, brokerage houses, or even high tech ones like PayPal – take control of your funds and leave you subject to their terms of service. If they decide that you have violated those terms, they can suspend your account. They can change their terms of service, and cause you to have to pay more or receive fewer funds for important transactions. With cryptocurrency, you retain all of the funds on hand, so to speak, digitally, with no third party involvement; the only one who can change the terms of your cryptocurrency use is YOU.” — Nasdaq
“[Cryptocurrencies] enable financial transactions quickly, inexpensively, and more securely. Decentralized crypto does everything that traditional fiat money does— and far more—because it is global and not subject to totalitarian government controls or any third-party interference.” — “How Does Cryptocurrency have Value and Why Should I Care?”

There are recurring themes and bits of rhetoric in the pro-crypto propaganda. (A term whose use is more than justified.) It’s about freedom. It’s about getting the government off your back. It’s about getting middlemen and third parties out of your transactions. It’s about control, autonomy, empowerment.

But if we get past the rhetoric and think about the implications for the average person, it’s not clear that we are actually meaningfully improving “freedom” in any but the most abstract, theoretical way. For the average currency user, why is it so important to get rid of banks and the government and these suspicious-sounding “third parties?” Yes, we all hate bankers, but is the tyranny of Venmo so oppressive that we should shed the U.S. dollar entirely and begin trading in an alternative currency? Yes, it’s true that if you bank with a credit union, you can think of it as “surrendering control of your assets to a credit union.” The crypto-enthusiasts raise the specter of violating the Terms of Service and having your account suspended. I don’t know about you, but this has not happened to me, ever. I’ve gone overdrawn and had to pay stupid fees (fees they hilariously euphemize as “overdraft protection”). I’ve had my debit card stop working because the bank thought a purchase was fraudul

Why Is Bitcoin Worth Real Money