Do Bitcoins have a Future?

“The internet deserves a native currency; it will have a native currency.

I don’t know if it’ll be Bitcoin or not, but I hope it will be.”

– Jack Dorsey, Chief Executive Officer of Twitter Inc. and Square Inc

We've been hearing about bitcoin for the last ten years now.

(Apparently, Bitcoin will turn 10 by the end of this month.) So, if you are

tired of this term, then buckle up, because bitcoin is not going away

anytime soon.

In fact, a small group of investors, companies, and even governments

have been warming up to this cryptocurrency, like never before.

This is indeed a major achievement, considering the cryptocurrency

witnessed several unfortunate speed bumps, since the time it was

launched in 2008.

Blockchain development companies

In 2014, San Francisco-based Square allowed merchants to accept

Bitcoin. Since then, the credit-card processing app has introduced

bitcoin trading to all users, letting the users send money to friends and

family.

Even Zimbabwe and Venezuela governments have been using bitcoins

because the value of their own currencies has gone down. Simply put,

countries suffering from hyperinflation use bitcoins because it seems to

be a more stable option to transact. Sure enough, there are several

smaller digital currencies as well, but all of them seem overpriced.

However, bitcoin has successfully demonstrated its ability to survive

upheaval, time and time again.

Perhaps, unsurprisingly, bullish experts have been comparing bitcoin to

early internet companies such as Intel and Microsoft. These companies

didn’t instantly find a market for their products. In fact, the early

entrants used it for gambling and pornography purposes. Which meant

it took a great deal of time before their products found global

acceptance. Nonetheless, the bearish experts are of the opinion that

bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are part of the speculative bubble.

Despite all these speculations, the one thing that’s never going to

change is that cryptocurrencies are here to stay. Sure the value of

bitcoin has been changing constantly, but it is still considered to be a

viable investment option by many.

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The parameters that experts believe will help decide

the future of bitcoin is discussed below:

Highly Secured: Bitcoins are built on blockchains. And, as a matter of

fact, it’s impossible to hack Blockchains. More significantly, the cost of

verifying transactions is comparatively less than that of central banks

because the transactions happen without the intervention of central

banks. Plus, the transactions are recorded in a digital ledger or a

blockchain. The security, the blockchain offers, has made bitcoins an

option worth exploring for banks as well.

Aside from Bitcoins, the blockchain platform powers several other industries

as well.

Cushion against Economic Problems: Countries suffering from

hyperinflation such as Zimbabwe and Venezuela are already using

bitcoin as it offers a more stable option to transact.

Availability of Hardware Wallets: Amazon offers dozens of offline

hardware wallets for fewer than $100 to securely store

cryptocurrencies. In fact, Noble Bitcoin has set up a fully-insured

cryptocurrency custodian service, using a Texas-based cold storage

location that already houses gold, silver, and platinum.

Merchant Approval: There are numerous bitcoin merchant

processing services in the market today that aid merchants accept

bitcoins. However, the consumers need to get comfortable with the

system, first and foremost, before the merchant approval happens.

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Government Support: Of course, few countries have outrightly

banned bitcoin. Even so, developed nations such as the U.S,Australia,

Japan, and other European nations are working on how to classify it. As

to whether it should be classified as a commodity or a currency or a

security and so on. The appropriate classification will plausibly lead to a

regulatory and legal framework, which, in turn, will enable services

such as insurance to build consumer trust.

Capacity: Bitcoin bears often criticize its capacity. A VISA network

supports 65,000 transactions per second while a bitcoin supports only 7

per second. This makes it unusable for day-to-day transactions because

the system can’t manage the volume. However, things could turn

around with the arrival of the Lightning Network Initiative that is

currently in test mode. The initiative will make sure that bitcoin’s

capacity soars to thousands of transactions a second, making the

system conducive for payments.

Putting it all together

Bitcoin usage has risen. However, the constant fluctuations in its value

have been the point of controversy for all and sundry, which, in turn, is

making customers and merchants think twice before going all-in for the

cryptocurrency. Plus, bitcoin circulation is regulated and there’s an

upper cap as to the number of bitcoins that could be mined. Further,

crypto heists are a commonplace. So, these issues need to be

addressed before bitcoins gain worldwide acceptance.

You could consult top blockchain companies to gain a better idea on

whether or not bitcoins built on a blockchain platform are the future

currency.

Blockchain development companies

Jennifer Warren

This is Jennifer Warren, staff writer at GoodFirms – a review and

research platform for top ecommerce development companies, digital

marketing companies, web development companies among many

others. A bookworm at heart, I have successfully guest blogged for top

sites such as Crazyegg, Semrush, Searchenginepeople, Sitepronews,

Volusion.com, Socialnomics, jeffbullas, mediapost among others.

Blockchain development companies