Bitcoin Surpassed the $10,000 Mark on November 28

Bitcoin officially surpassed the $10,000 mark on November 28, up more than 800 percent since the beginning of this year alone. The cryptocurrency is poised to soar even higher in 2018, given the growth of worldwide and corporate adoption, increased accessibility and the exploding popularity of blockchain technology. With Wall Street titan Michael Novogratz predicting that Bitcoin could easily be valued at $40,000 by the end of 2018, now may be the prime time to invest in the digital currency.  But before we discuss Bitcoin’s future trajectory, let’s review how it got to where it is today.

2008: A Trusted Currency is Born

Like many great innovations, Bitcoin was born in response to a crisis. Back in 2008, financial institutions recklessly bundled and sold subprime loans. This resulted in a massive economic recession and a global distrust in third-party organizations. It was time for an alternative option, which arrived in the unexpected form of a white paper.

In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous person or group of people behind the concept of Bitcoin, wrote a nine-page white paper titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. The paper articulated the need for “an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust.” As the financial crisis demonstrated, a banker’s word could often be intangible and misleading. Incorporating cryptographic technology into financial transactions would eliminate the need for third-party verification and make it impractical to commit fraud.

The world listened, and 2009 marked the release of the first Bitcoins.

2010-2016: A Force of Innovation

Over the last seven years, Bitcoin has gained traction as a new asset class that meets the bar for investability. In their white paper Bitcoin: Ringing the Bell for a New Asset Class, Blockchain Product Lead at Ark Invest Chris Burniske and Coinbase Vice President and General Manager Adam White compare basis of value, governance, use cases, and price independence of Bitcoin relative to other forms of currency. Some major findings?

• Relative to other major asset classes, Bitcoin has consistently stayed within boundaries identifying it as a differentiated risk reducer.
• Bitcoin has provided investors with stellar absolute returns, above and beyond that of any other asset class.
• The decline in Bitcoin’s volatility has been caused by a number of factors including greater regulatory clarity and increasingly reliable price discovery data.

However, Burniske and White’s research, which runs through the end of 2016, doesn’t take into account the events that boosted Bitcoin’s prominence in 2017. Let’s take a closer look at a few major events that happened this year.

2017: Rapid Ascension

• April 2017 – Bitcoin become a method of payment in Japan. Now over 260,000 establishments and retail location stores are accepting cryptocurrency.
• November 2017 – Square tests cryptocurrency in their Cash app, allowing a small amount of users to buy and sell bitcoin directly on the app.
• November 2017 – The entire cryptocurrency market capitalization surpasses $300 billion for the first time in history as of November 27, 2017

2018 and Beyond: Bitcoin and Blockchain Continue to Soar

In short, Bitcoin, and the powerful blockchain technology that powers it, will not be slowing down anytime soon.

Bitcoin is not only leading the charge in cryptocurrency, but also in data security. The blockchain technology that powers Bitcoin is gaining traction in a variety of industries that are looking to track sensitive data with encrypted technology. 

The signs are all there: it’s time to capitalize on the momentum and invest in your future. A good place to start? Your retirement account.

Bitcoin IRA: Investing in Your Future

Investing in retirement funds is an issue of paramount concern but also tremendous opportunity. What if you could invest in Bitcoin to retire earlier, and richer?

Bitcoin IRA is a full-service company dedicated to making this into a reality. After filling out an IRA application, we will walk you through the process of transferring your existing IRA or 401k funds into your new Bitcoin IRA. After your funds arrive, we work with you to perform a live trade and buy your Bitcoins, which will then be stored securely in our exclusive digital wallet.

Interested in getting started? Give us a call today to take advantage of one of the biggest investment opportunities of 2017.

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