Over the last couple of years the term cryptocurrency has been rapidly gaining the public eye. You might be more familiar with terms like Bitcoin, Litcoin and Ether. These are all cryptocurrencies.
In fact, there many! Just take a quick look
Bitcoin
Dash
Ripple
Dogecoin
Litecoin
Peercoin
Ether
Just a simple google trend search shows you the start of the growth
But before you continue reading, I want to give a short primer of cryptocurrency
“A cryptocurrency is a digital currency that is created and managed through the use of advanced encryption techniques known as cryptography. Cryptocurrency made the leap from being an academic concept to (virtual) reality with the creation of Bitcoin in 2009. While Bitcoin attracted a growing following in subsequent years, it captured significant investor and media attention in April 2013 when it peaked at a record $266 per bitcoin after surging 10-fold in the preceding two months. Bitcoin sported a market value of over $2 billion at its peak, but a 50% plunge shortly thereafter sparked a raging debate about the future of cryptocurrencies in general and Bitcoin in particular. So, will these alternative currencies eventually supplant conventional currencies and become as ubiquitous as dollars and euros someday? Or are cryptocurrencies a passing fad that will flame out before long? The answer lies with Bitcoin.”
HOW WILL CRYPTOCURRENCY WILL HELP YOU?
The world is becoming more and more economically unsafe. This is not to say we are not growing. But asNassim Taleb states in his book. Antifragile. Our economic machine is like a glass jaw. one small punch to it and it all comes crushing down! Both long term and short term this is not good for you and all of the hard working citizen of the world.
“FRAGILITY IS THE QUALITY OF THINGS THAT ARE VULNERABLE TO VOLATILITY.”
– NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB
Remember what happened in Cyprus in March 2013? The Central Bank wanted to take back uninsured deposits larger than $100,000 to help recapitalize itself, causing huge unrest in the local population. It originally wanted to take a percentage of deposits below that figure, eating directly into family savings. That can’t happen with cryptocurrency/bitcoin. Because the currency is decentralized, you own it. No central authority has control, and so a bank can’t take it away from you. For those who find their trust in the traditional banking system unravelling, that’s a big benefit.
Let’s take a look at some of the improvements that can be made to fiat currency by shifting towards digital cash:
Fraud: Cryptocurerncies are digital and cannot be counterfeited or reversed arbitrarily by the sender, as with credit card charge-backs.
Identity Theft: When you give your credit card to a merchant, you give him or her access to your full credit line, even if the transaction is for a small amount. Credit cards operate on a “pull” basis, where the store initiates the payment and pulls the designated amount from your account. Cryptocurrency use a “push” mechanism that allows the cryptocurrency holder to send exactly what he or she wants to the merchant or recipient with no further information
Immediate Settlement: Purchasing real property typically involves a number of third parties (Lawyers, Notary), delays, and payment of fees. In many ways, the bitcoin/cryptocurency blockchain is like a “large property rights database,” says Gallippi. Bitcoin contracts can be designed and enforced to eliminate or add third party approvals, reference external facts, or be completed at a future date or time for a fraction of the expense and time required to complete traditional asset transfers.
Access to Everyone: There are approximately 2.2 billion individuals with access to the Internet or mobile phones who don’t currently have access to traditional exchange systems. These individuals are primed for the Crytocurrency market. Kenya’s M-PESA system, a mobile phone-based money transfer and micros financing service recently announced a bitcoin device, with one in three Kenyans now owning a bitcoin wallet. (Let me repeat that again. 1/3)
Lower Fees: There aren’t usually transaction fees for cryptocurrency exchanges because the miners are compensated by the network (Side note: This is the case for now). Even though there’s no bitcoin/cryptocurrency transaction fee, many expect that most users will engage a third-party service, such as Coinbase, creating and maintaining their own bitcoin wallets. These services act like Paypal does for cash or credit card users, providing the online exchange system for bitcoin, and as such, they’re likely to charge fees. It’s interesting to note that Paypal does not accept or transfer bitcoins.
