Bitcoin - The Tipping Point
To date, this is the most serious and voluminous work on the results of the last decade of bitcoin promotion and the most serious forecast regarding the role of bitcoin in the global financial system.
This is a colossal joint effort of not just leading analysts and managers of various divisions of Citibank itself. Key figures in today's cryptocurrency industry from Genesis, Greyscale and Chainalysis to the main DEFI platform Uniswap took part in the creation of this report. This is perhaps the most up-to-date and must-read work for understanding the future of Bitcoin.
For those who have no time to read longreads in English, a short summary.
Bitcoin is at a tipping point and could become the currency of choice for international trade.
The biggest change to Bitcoin in recent years has been the shift from its original focus on retail to something that looks attractive to institutional investors. ” Citibank attributes this change to "specific improvements to exchanges, trading, data and custody services," which are "scaled up and updated in line with the demands of institutional investors."
Highlighting "Bitcoin's advantage in global payments, including its decentralized design, no foreign exchange risk, fast (and potentially cheaper) money movement, secure payment channels and traceability."
These attributes, combined with Bitcoin's global reach and neutrality, could propel it to become the main currency for international trade.
The report also explains that Bitcoin has gone through three distinct stages in its development, from a technological curiosity and censorship-resistant money to digital gold status. Now he is approaching the fourth stage of his development. Bitcoin is becoming an international trading currency.
The report notes that "large institutional investors and organizations are choosing to participate in and support the Bitcoin movement," while "regulators are beginning to lay the groundwork for this asset to potentially enter the mainstream."
Thus, one of the largest banks in the world confirms that regulators will not only not hinder the development of bitcoin, but they themselves will create conditions for it to bring it to the global market.
The most curious diagram in the report, in my opinion, is figure 10 (shown below). Here the bankers have laid out on the shelves nothing more than a scheme to curb bitcoin in order to fit it into the usual control system.
But Bitcoin has one important advantage, since it is independent and not afraid of prohibitions, it can easily not fit into any framework prepared for it. It will seep through like water through your fingers. That is why more than 30 experts who prepared the report have recognized bitcoin as a disruptive technology that can destroy the entire financial infrastructure.
I would like to quote another quote from the report: “Bitcoin is proof that the way world governments and economies imagine money no longer works. This forces investors to do it in a way they have never done before. Bitcoin has changed the belief system, it has proven that our economic infrastructure is more fragile than we ever knew, and a better and more stable future is right in front of us. ” And that's Bitcoin.
Now, when they tell you the next absurdities from a set of misconceptions about bitcoin, you can immediately send them a link to this report.
