10 KEY BENEFITS OF Bitcoin – Sam MacDonald
Bitcoin was invented in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis as an alternative to crony capitalism. It was an idealistic creation based on groundbreaking technology. Fast forward to 2019, and Bitcoin’s rise into popular culture and mainstream finance has been remarkable. In fact, the digital currency has been the best performing asset class of the past decade.
No way? Yes, way! Not bad for magic Internet money.
However, explaining why Bitcoin has inherent value to your peers can be hard, so let’s focus on its main benefits for that next dinner party.
1. Limited supply
Bottom line, Bitcoin is a scarce asset. There are only 21 million that will ever exist — and 85% are already in circulation. The same cannot be said of the US dollar.
We also know, that at least a third of all Bitcoin is lost, and may never surface again.
The amount of new Bitcoin released to market decreases roughly every four years, which is called a ‘halving’ — this continues until it reaches that magical 21 million mark. Fiat currencies are inflationary and do not have the scarcity advantage, for instance, since the 2008 crash the US Federal Reserve has printed more than Two Trillion dollars. The US dollar has been that way since it lost its pairing to Gold during the Nixon Presidency.
2. Peer to peer
Bitcoin allows two people to complete an exchange without the need for any third party, saving you untold fees in the process. By making intermediaries redundant, multiple industries are in the firing line, and in the case of Bitcoin, this is a bank. Other examples include: using Bitcoin instead of PayPal for purchases through Amazon/eBay — and in ride-sharing, where the consumer can pay the driver directly without the need for Uber to take a cut. In larger cases: the buying and selling of property can be completed without the need for Real estate agents to complete the transfer and minus unreasonable waiting times.
3. Anonymity
Using a bank or other third parties requires KYC (Know Your Customer), and a big element of trust. This means handing over personal information like birth certificates, passports, licenses, and gov. accounts to become verified just to exchange your own money. The ability to safeguard your identity when completing sensitive transactions is a logical next step when trust in big institutions is low, and private companies like Facebook cannot securely hold your data. In a Bitcoin transaction, you’ll only see the public-keys of the two parties making the exchange, making this method deliciously appealing to the security-conscious and people who value their privacy.
4. Government free
No one government controls Bitcoin, and therefore, it is free of central bank interference and manipulation. On a whim, the Indian Gov. removed the 500 & 1000 Rupee banknotes to fight corruption — a sudden and arbitrary move that impacts the entire country and may not address the real problem.
Imagine if Scott Morrison came out tomorrow and said the $100 bill is now worthless because of criminal activity…
Governments that are shady or negligent, too often mismanage the economy to the severe determent of their citizens and their quality of life. Bitcoin eliminates this risk and puts you in control.
5. Eliminates double spending
You cannot spend digital money twice. Distributed Ledger Technology is transparent, and the currency within the network cannot be copied as done with fiat money. Although it is getting harder to do, according to the RBA in 2019, there are 1.6 Billion fake notes in circulation in Australia. Bitcoin only allows for the authentic transaction to be approved and the network rejects any counterfeits.
6. Immutable
Every transaction is recorded on a digital ledger for everyone to see, called the Blockchain. It is set in ‘digital stone’ and cannot be undone. The network is transparent and leaves no wiggle room for forgery. This makes Bitcoin and blockchain especially suitable for government treasuries. The 21 trillion dollars of taxpayers money that is “unaccounted for” at the US Pentagon, could have been easily tracked and audited.
7. Decentralized
In what may be its most well-known feature: the Bitcoin network is not controlled or run by a single entity. It is decentralized geographically and powered by everyone who runs a section of the network, called a ‘full node,’ (The Bitcoin Blockchain).
Anyone can download a full node on their computer and contribute to the integrity of the network.
There are currently 10k nodes around the world and incredibly, only 1 node is required to keep the entire system operational — very cool! This makes Bitcoin uniquely censorship-resistant and especially hard to kill.
8. Trust is built inside the network
The full nodes that sustain the network validate all Bitcoin transactions and create, what is called, a ‘trustless’ system. In essence: nobody needs to trust anyone that the Bitcoin network will work as intended. The software run by the full nodes guarantees the network will function in the same manner regardless of the participant’s intentions.
9. Consensus Governance
If there are deficiencies or upgrades required on the Bitcoin network, then there must be consensus to make the change. Voting decisions are made by all those who run a full node and not by a few people that sit at the top. The power is decentralized throughout the entire network.
10. Global currency
Bitcoin’s catchphrase should be “Anywhere, any time.” Bitcoin is 24/7 and can be spent anywhere in the world that accepts it as a way of payment. Even if it doesn’t, there are apps that can do it for you. The most common method is via a QR code or via applications, like Apple Pay. Bitcoin’s great advantage is that it does not have to be transferred into another currency to spend in different parts of the world and is truly borderless.
Finally, Bitcoin has been declared dead over 350 times by the mainstream media so it’s important to ignore the noise. But for a good laugh, check it out for yourself https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-obituaries/
Blog by Sam MacDonald
Content Director
Disclaimer. Sam owns Cryptocurrency
Want to learn more? Come along to one of our National events or check out our free guide.
Here’s the links:
Guide — https://selfdevelopmentinstitute.lpages.co/financialfreedomguide/
National Tour — https://selfdevelopmentinstitute.lpages.co/cci-national-tour/
Published at Sun, 15 Sep 2019 08:16:39 +0000
Bitcoin Pic Of The Moment
✅ This image from Marco Verch (trendingtopics) is available under Creative Commons 2.0. Please link to the original photo and the license. 📝 License for use outside of the Creative Commons is available by request.
By trendingtopics on 2019-03-07 02:43:20
