Bitcoin: A Bet Or Investment?

Bitcoin has been a hot topic for discussion over the past few months, gaining significant traction due to its wild bull runs and stomach-churning declines. Its flirtation with mainstream acceptance and the gravity-defying climb to $58,000 last month along with some dramatic dips has made headlines all around the world.

The media frenzy surrounding this latest boom has supporters hailing it as the ‘digital gold’ while it continues to be demonized by critics. Whether all this turns bitcoin into a viable currency instead of a speculative investment or a store of value remains to be seen. However, one thing is for certain: the Bitcoin narrative has successfully grabbed the attention of potential investors and skeptics alike.

Bitcoin’s Rocky Rise To Stardom

With humble beginnings in 2009, Bitcoin was the first to first to beget a myriad of cryptocurrencies. Due to its extremely volatile nature, Bitcoin has been the cause for many breathless headlines over the years.

In 2017, the cryptocurrency soared from just about $1,000 to a staggering $20,000 over the span of only 12 months. Unfortunately, its value plummeted to about $3,000 within a few weeks in 2018. At the time, many mainstream investors, central bankers, and financial advisors wrote it off as a dangerous instrument used mainly for illegal activity and unethical practices by swindlers. They claimed it was a “disaster waiting to happen” for anyone that allowed themselves to be dragged along the waves of the crypto world.

However, since then, much of Wall Street seems to have changed its tune, with growing numbers of institutional investors and hedge fund managers buying in. Today, there are more than 18 million bitcoins in existence that have been generated by miners and the number is growing rapidly. After dizzying gyrations over the past few weeks, the value of Bitcoin is currently around $52,000 with a market cap close to $1 trillion.

Drivers For Its Growing Popularity 

In an economy devastated by Covid-19, it is safe to say that the world has opened its eyes to the true potential of Bitcoin as an alternative to fiat currencies. But there have been many reasons for its skyrocketing value and popularity.

Perhaps one of the major reasons behind Bitcoin’s meteoric rise in popularity is that it does not conform to the rules of inflation. Due to its design, only a limited number of Bitcoins can ever be in existence, a hardwired maximum of 21 million coins. Such a limit essentially makes this cryptocurrency inflation-proof and allows it to retain its value regardless of the economic turmoil faced by the world. This makes it superior to traditional currencies.

Another contributing factor to the Bitcoin buzz is the involvement of institutional investors and its acceptance as a means of payment. Companies like Tesla, Square, and Paypal have jumped aboard the Bitcoin ship with big billion-dollar bets on the cryptocurrency. MasterCard, Apple Pay among others are now allowing it to be used as a form of payment.

The availability of trading bots has emerged as a safe haven for many novice investors and traders not yet ready to hold the reins of this volatile crypto beast on their own just yet. Using powerful technologies and algorithms, such platforms allow their users to earn profits like a pro on the regular. You can visit the bitcoin power official website for more information.

On top of that, its decentralized nature, easy accessibility, and growing support have had many excited about its future. Regardless of their opinions, cynics, skeptics, and spectators are all intrigued as to how the Bitcoin story will play out and what place it will eventually take in the financial society if any.

The crypto space is, undoubtedly, a highly volatile playground where, if not careful, you could lose all your savings in hopes of becoming early millionaires. But fortunes can change for the better as well, and that too in just a matter of minutes. It is not wrong to say that anyone who,  since its early days, chose to “Hodl” (hold on) to Bitcoin, may have made enough money to make even America’s highest-paid banking executives blush.

Although its future as a possible alternative to fiat currencies or gold is quite uncertain, two things are for certain: the idea does not seem as far-fetched as it did half a decade ago and Bitcoin is not going anywhere anytime soon.