If you type in Google future of… in the first 5 results you will surely find cryptocurrencies and bitcoin.
Pluses and minuses
Let's see what are the strengths and weaknesses of the currency that triggered the crypto-mania, a frenzy that has already swallowed hundreds of billions of dollars for coins that can be used and not too much yet. Let's begin.
Bitcoin is the gold of cryptocurrencies and like any gold bar it has about the same problems. It's too expensive to have a bitcoin, it's too complicated to use in everyday life and everyone wants to steal it from you. Among other things… At a price of $ 13,000 these days, bitcoin has so much value in every unit that it cannot be used for shopping in the supermarket even if it were accepted by banks, governments and VISA and MasterCard. For example, a loaf of bread would cost 0.0001 bitcoins and the transaction would cost as much as 7 loaves of bread today if you want it confirmed in 10 minutes.
Where does the problem come from? Precisely from the strengths of technology. Bitcoin is impossible (until today) to cheat precisely because every transaction must be confirmed by miners. There are hundreds of thousands of miners around the world who do not know what transactions they validate but know that they are rewarded every time they do. Hence the power of such a network in which the transaction log and all accounts are copied to hundreds of thousands of different places. To give you an idea, a bitcoin thief would have to simultaneously attack hundreds of thousands of computers and change an encrypted registry with a password that is hard to break.
Another problem is the limited amount of bitcoin. We know for sure that there can be no more than 21 million bitcoins from which about 18 million were mined. That makes bitcoin rarer than anything, and it makes it even more valuable than gold or diamonds.
Bitcoin is therefore the most important crypto currency that could easily replace the gold reserves of central banks without occupying the cellars of the NBR, the Fed or other treasuries in the world. But we don't all carry gold in our pockets to pay at the counter, so we need other solutions for small and large, fast and even instant transactions, inventory and tickets.
Thousands of alternatives to bitcoin are the rest of the cryptocurrencies on the internet. There are many, and even if not all can be converted into money, FIAT, surely there is a way to turn them into…. Of course, Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Cash is a currency that is already approaching the value of "Dad's". It is now almost $ 1,500 and fluctuates much less. However, we do not recommend Bitcoin Diamond, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Dark or Bitcoin Private. It's a long discussion, but in short, it's like the clones shot at the copier.
Ethereum is based on so-called Smart Contracts (a protocol for facilitating, verifying and securing transactions). Ethereum is ingenious and fast. It has potential especially for the management of large and small transactions, product inventory, etc.
NEO is already used successfully for financial markets in China and is supported by the state. Chinese state
Litecoin. As I forgot, it is almost a copy of Bitcoin, also very long-lived, which increases in value precisely its persistence. But it is almost as slow in terms of transactions as Bitcoin.
Monero is of course also on the lips of many miners, precisely because it is easier to obtain than others. But it is also in a gray area because it relies heavily on the anonymity of transactions. I don't think it's for the future.
IOTA is another interesting currency that could be used to charge electric cars but still needs a lot of development.
LISK promises to become the foundation for any blockchain project, but the Germans are developing it too slowly.
But MWAT would like to be a kind of digital megawatt. It's made by Romanians by the way.
Like the Person who wants to be your digital identity. And this one is Romanian.
And there are thousands of ideas and projects waiting for fans, funding and public support.
What is the currency of the future, though?
Bitcoin is not going anywhere too soon. It is strong and supported by a market that runs $ 8 billion daily. If Romanians also sell houses and cars on bitcoin, I say it's no wonder. It can be a value storage solution but for everyday life there is still no substitute for leu, euro or dollar.
But Bitcoin Cash is a valuable competitor and not the only one. At the first financial crisis we will see currencies exploding in value again, led by bitcoin, and this shows us that the blockchain can secure savings when the technology is reliable.
Regarding small, fresh, young coins, there is a lot of enthusiasm at the moment and too few notable achievements. If I had a hundred lei to spend, I would put half on bitcoin, a quarter on ether and with a quarter I would juggle among the coins that have true potential. This is how it should be done in everyday life. Put something aside and only risk the money you're willing to lose.
