President James Garfield once said…
“He who controls the money supply of a nation controls the nation.”
Who then, Mr. Garfield, controls the money supply of bitcoin?
Because if such a person existed — an invisible hand that controls everything — then that person would have the entire world in a stranglehold.
Fortunately, there is no god of bitcoin.
In its purest form, bitcoin is a peer-to-peer digital currency.
That is, no single user — or bitcoin miner, for that matter — enjoys power over another.
In a decentralized system, like bitcoin, there is no head of the snake.
“Decentralized systems are a hydra. Cut off one head and two more pop in to take its place,” says author Daniel Jeffries.
As long as you have an internet connection…
Bitcoin allows you to bask in the glory of a borderless currency — one that lies far beyond the reach of any single government or dictator.
But its decentralized nature is only one reason for our current love affair.
Here are five more reasons that bitcoin has real staying power.
Reason #1: Better Than Gold
Once a person has accumulated wealth, security becomes a big deal.
Dollars lose value to inflation. Stocks are risky. Bonds are risky.
And for the safety-minded investor, bitcoin solves two problems in one move:
- Its value holds up when the markets tank.
- And it doesn’t take up any physical space.
To hedge against inflation, most people look to gold as a haven for their wealth.
After all, it’s served as a store of value for people for centuries.
Right now, $1 Million will buy you about fifty pounds of gold at $1,319 per ounce.
Sure, you could easily bury that loot in the backyard for a rainy day.
But in an emergency where you have to — say, evacuate your home in a hurry — that fifty pounds of gold becomes a heavy burden quick.
On the other hand, bitcoin is weightless and is stored eternally on the blockchain.
So as long as you have access to the internet, you have access to your bitcoin holdings — no matter where you are.
Heck, as more businesses around the world accept bitcoin as payment… there may not even be a need to hold any country’s official currency in the not-too-distant future.
Reason #2: Nobody Likes Fees
Here’s an eye-popping number for you: $6.4 billion.
That’s how much the three biggest U.S. banks made last year from ATM and overdraft fees, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
That works out to $25 per adult American citizen.
Crazy, right?
Bitcoin, on the other hand, has no fines.
It has no maintenance fees, no overdraft fees and no ATM fees.
How about another sad number: 2.5.
That’s how many average business days it takes to make a bank-to-bank transfer.
Bitcoin transfers can be made in 10 minutes or less.
Comparing bitcoin with traditional fiat currencies is like comparing the telephone with the telegraph, or credit cards with checks.
Bottom line: Bitcoin offers nearly instant, feeless transactions. Our antiquated systems of banking and currencies don’t stand a chance.
Reason #3: More Crash-Proof Than the Dollar
Once upon a time, money had a fixed value and we were on the gold standard.
After governments gave that up, they still followed cautious rules of monetary management.
That is, when inflation got out of control, Paul Volcker reined it back in.
Now, in the days of “stimulus,” they keep real interest rates negative for a decade at a time.
With that kind of management, nobody can rely on the value of ordinary currencies. Central banks can instantly trash a currency’s value.
Bitcoin, with its fixed mining rate for new coins and a finite total supply, is much less likely to crash hopelessly compared with the dollar.
Reason #4: Safe Alternative in a Cashless Society
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies represent a solution if the Fed abolishes cash.
Harvard Professor Ken Rogoff and Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane have both suggested abolishing cash.
Instead, all transactions will occur electronically through the banking system.
That way, the Fed and other central banks can set interest rates to negative 5% if they want to, and we’ll have no other alternatives.
Except, of course, for bitcoin.
If they abolish cash, we can store our wealth in bitcoin and avoid having our wealth eroded by negative interest rates and other dangers of the fiat money banking system.
By taking away the power of governments and central banks to steal our money, bitcoin restores our freedom.
Reason #5: The Darn Thing Simply Won’t Die
Hacks. Splits. Thefts. Facilitating criminal activities. Yup, bitcoin’s enjoyed them all since coming on the scene.
Yet the cryptocurrency is still hanging tough, nearly a decade later.
“Anytime something just refuses to die, you probably have to pay attention to it,” opines the COO of StockTwits Justin Paterno.
Amen!
And when that something is an emerging technology, you probably need to invest in it, too, because its longevity proves that it’s anything but a fad.
Confession: At first I refused to pay bitcoin much attention — and even went so far to predict its demise. The darn thing refused to die, though, which forced me to change my mind.
I’m not alone, either.
Central banks the world over — the one group, mind you that is most threatened with extinction by the emergence of decentralized cryptocurrencies — are now making initial infrastructure investments to support cryptocurrency payments.
This includes the Monetary Authority of Singapore, as well as England’s, China’s and Canada’s central banks. Their actions couldn’t be a more glaring tell of the disruption that’s unfolding.
If cryptocurrencies live up to their hype and permanently disrupt traditional currencies, you’ll want to own some. Of course, if that ends up happening, it won’t be obvious until it’s too late to invest.
So if you’re still crypto-paranoid or skeptical, why not position yourself just in case?
The lord knows we’ve all invested our hard-earned capital in far more speculative and less potentially disruptive endeavors. Powerball lotto ticket anyone? The recent Mayweather-McGregor fight perhaps?
Just saying. It can’t hurt to have a little exposure. But it’ll certainly hurt to have none.