When I first heard about Bitcoin, I thought it was a joke and it was like Monopoly money. I was so wrong. I laughed when I first heard of a crazy fool who bought two pizzas for 10,000 BTC back in in 2010. If we converted that to today’s market value, those two pizza will be approximately $2.8 million USD. At one point, it peaked at $1,216 USD and then it eventually crashed. It has been a source of many illegal dramas, but after six years, it’s still here. So far, a few Tesla cars and numerous coffees have been purchased with this cryptocurrency. Yet it’s a little difficult to buy fried chicken. I don’t mean Colonel KFC’s either.
Q: Bitcoin, is it money or is a technology?
A: It’s both.
Bitcoin is both an emerging technology and a currency. What is money, really? Simply put, it’s an accepted mode of transaction for goods or services rendered. With paper money we buy our Big Mac meal. For online shopping, we use our PayPal account or Credit Card. After we take an Uber, the fare is debited directly from our bank accounts. We’re in a digital age where the traditional idea of banks are no longer viable, and they are charging us a fee for it. I get that people like to hold cash, people still hold on to the perception that money is tangible. Still, I also believe that cash as we know will be obsolete.
Research into Bitcoin has continually blown my mind — I try to reel back and consider how this may be of use to the everyday consumer.
“Micropayment systems have the potential to reward creativity and exceptional content — on a realistic scale.” [Walter Issacs]
On a creative front, there is an opportunity to show appreciation for all types of content makers. Using Bitcoin micropayments, readers can show appreciation of online articles with incremental value like, 500 bits and reasonably compensate writers, bloggers or authors. This can be used as alternative to traditional advertising models.
The first time, Bitcoin found me was through a form of a micro-tip. Through the use of Meerkat and ChangeTip, when can easily see ways of showing appreciation or create a memorable and interactive experience. Using an easy micropayment system, today’s content makers can sell digital copies of their songs, games, blogs, articles and artworks by the piece.
“…with Bitcoin, there is an economically viable way to charge arbitrarily small amounts of money per article, or per section, or per hour, or per video play, or per archive access, or per news alert.” [Marc Andreessen]
Bitcoin has no inherent value. Government bodies don’t recognise it as legal tender nor is it backed by any assets. It doesn’t represent a property claim.
Bitcoin is a far more layered and complex. Yes, like the dollar, Bitcoin has a stored monetary value. From all the startups seen, many have shown a trend of using Bitcoin as a currency. Bitcoin as money is the first wave and it’s just one of its many layers. We can send a fraction of a cent to anyone as payments. We can also send bits of information within the Blockchain technology. What excites me most is not the monetary value of it, but the underlying and decentralised technology.
If we compare Bitcoin to an infrastructure. Bitcoin is a car that travels on top of a technological highway called the blockchain. As we move towards a globalised society, a country’s border is still an imaginary line, and money will become an intangible exchange. One only has to watch Sweden to see where we are heading. Sweden is on track to be the first country to transition into a cashless economy.
Let’s fast forward a bit, and let’s travel forth to the future. Here, we don’t carry cash and cards are obsolete. Our smartphones will be our virtual and physical wallets. Instead of splitting bills, we will be bumping phones our together to pay for dinner. The days of receiving ‘money’ from one end of the world will be over, and we will receive funds instantly. Where the internet becomes an accessible, secure database that stores other assets as digital items.
I’m waiting patiently for a day when Bitcoin is wholly accepted and it becomes the social norm. I look forward when we cease to hear or ask “umm, what is Bitcoin?”
Then finally, my little dream of paying for my chicken with Bitcoin can be realised. Do you see that future, too?
Or just maybe, you know the answer - do you know where I can buy fried chicken with Bitcoin?
Let me know
I'm a curious geek of the future who loves fried chicken, I mean, I ❤ Bitcoin.
I'm @stringstory everywhere online, including Snapchat.