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Bitcoin’s Future: Cash or Gold?

Posted on September 27, 2017 | by [email protected]

Is Bitcoin destined to be the new currency or will it be a long-term store of value?

In February 2015, it was reported that the number of retailers accepting Bitcoin had reached 100,000. Most importantly, five of the top 500 leading internet sellers accepted Bitcoin as a method of payment. Those numbers were joyous news in the digital currency community; it meant that Bitcoin was growing in adoption and perhaps a future free of fiat currency was possible.

Fast forward to 2017 and the landscape has changed significantly. Bitcoin has seen a 55 percent increase in transaction volume, but the number of leading internet sellers accepting digital currency had dropped down to three. The explanation is likely that Bitcoin users are holding onto their coins due to their skyrocketing value rather than spending coins for daily transactions.

Fewer payment transactions and an increase in “hodling” (a Bitcoin community term for holding onto coins) has many wondering if the future of Bitcoin will be more like precious metals like gold rather than digital currency. The truth lies in both: Bitcoin will increase as both a store of value and as a decentralized payment system. Here’s why Bitcoin will thrive in both areas of value:

Cash: Japan Will Accept Bitcoin as Official Payment in 260,000 Stores

April 1, 2017, Bitcoin officially became a method of payment in Japan. Two major Japanese retailers partnered with Bitcoin exchanges to start accepting the digital currency as payment. That partnership proved to be only the beginning of Bitcoin in Japan. Coincheck, a Japanese exchange, partnered with Recruit Lifestyle which opened up 260,000 food establishments and retail locations nationwide to accepting Bitcoin payments.

Japan’s widespread adoption and acceptance of Bitcoin sets a precedent for other countries. As other governments consider how to approach cryptocurrencies, the success of Bitcoin in a leading country like Japan is likely to be influential. Allowing Bitcoin payments encourages commerce between Japan and other countries.

Furthermore, Bitcoin payments are low cost and faster across boarders than traditional payments. One universal currency that does not need to be exchanged and is not subject to exchange rates is inarguably valuable to all parties.

Beyond the borders of Japan, Bitcoin as a cash payment is of value to small business owners in the United States as well. Credit card companies typically charge 2-3% on every transaction. For small business owners in particular, those fees are a significant drain on cash flow. The margin of success for a small business to succeed is razor-thin with 50 percent of businesses failing within the first five years. Needless to say, every dollar counts to the small business owners across the country and exorbitant fees from credit card transactions is a problem (particularly in an increasingly cashless society).

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies typically cost between 0-1% for every transaction. Small businesses can send or accept bitcoins as payments with no fees attached. Bitcoin doesn’t require a bank to verify each transaction, which means business owners don’t have to sacrifice revenue to financial institutions.

The number of leading internet sellers accepting digital currency had dropped, but it may be small business owners that lead the charge of adoption. The math of Bitcoin simply makes more sense for small business owners than traditional fiat currency. Having said that, there is a strong rumor that Amazon.com will soon begin accepting Bitcoin. Amazon.com being the giant that it is, acceptance of Bitcoin here could start the dominoes to fall for other major retailers.

Gold: Greater Adoption of Cash Will Make Bitcoin a Better Long-Term Investment

Bitcoin is not a game of either/or: ether Bitcoin is used for payment transactions OR it is a long-term store of value. In fact, Bitcoin growing in adoption opens up more and better business opportunities, increases the demand for Bitcoins – and, by extension, their price. The increase in price makes Bitcoin a better long-term investment for individuals and makes it more feasible for business owners to enable Bitcoin payments at their stores and brings other countless benefits to the participants of the market.

Japan’s mass adoption of Bitcoin as a payment system can be seen as the next step for digital currencies with businesses. Adoption of payment is driving up price, which has lead to many investors looking to take advantage of the long-term growth potential of Bitcoin. It is now legal to rollover traditional fund into a Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency self-direct IRA account. More and more investors are turning to digital assets for retirement.

The truth of the matter is that an increase in adoption of Bitcoin as a payment system will increase its value as a long-term investment. What’s good for one is good for the other.

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China’s Crackdown: Why Bitcoin Will Continue to Thrive

Posted on September 19, 2017 | by [email protected]

September 15, 2017, the Chinese government officially issued a ban on all Bitcoin exchanges and trading platforms. The ban did not come as a surprise, rumors had been circulating for some time, but the ruling still triggered a mass exodus of investors. When rumor became reality a nervous market began selling off, sending the price of Bitcoin into a slide. The talk in the crypto-community immediately turned to whether Bitcoin was a bubble and this was the beginning of the end for the digital currency.

However, experience investors know that the price dip and setback with China are mere bumps in the road and Bitcoin’s path to growth will continue. As a proof point, by press time the price of Bitcoin had already recovered from $3,000 up to $4,011.

Here are just a few reasons and arguments from the experts as to why Bitcoin and digital currencies will be unaffected by the China exchange and ICO ruling.

Facebook and Google are Banned from China and Still Thriving

If there’s a precedent to be set about China’s ability to stifle innovation, one only need to look to companies like Facebook and Google. Both platforms can easily be characterized as giants worldwide with billions in earnings and mass adoption. What’s more, both platforms have also been banned in China.

There’s no doubt that China is a huge market, but Google and Facebook have thrived despite having no presence there.

Stelian Balta, Founder and Managing Partner of HyperChain Capital had this to say: “Digital assets can be considered commodities trading on supply and demand. There is fixed supply and increasing demand. China is an important market and the recent news of exchanges shutting down and ICO funding being banned certainly has a short term negative effect on the prices. However, digital assets are a global phenomenon. Huge Internet businesses like Facebook or Google are banned in China and are doing pretty well.”

In fact, China only accounted for 6.4 percent of global Bitcoin trades. The world of cryptocurrency is still growing and has a long way to go before it overtakes traditional currency. In short, there’s plenty of opportunity left in the digital currency marketspace.

Trading Volume has Moved to Japan

Once China left the digital currency market, other countries were ready and waiting to take up the slack. Case-in-point, according to CryptoCompare, Japan became the leader in volume by currency with 50.75 percent market share of the global Bitcoin exchange market in the days after the ban. The three largest exchanges, BTCC, Huobi and OKCoin immediately moved to Japan after the ban, boosting it to the number one position. Time will tell how Japan continues to fair against the usual leaders of Korea, Europe, Great Britain, and the United States, but China’s ruling has opened up opportunity.

Some experts are even arguing that the China ban could be beneficial to the rest of the market. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee, said, “This is a good thing. China can no longer play with the markets by banning Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency cannot be killed by any country. One solution to centralized exchanges is decentralized ones.”

Bitcoin’s rebound in price post China ruling serves as proof of Lee’s statement that no single country determines the fate of digital currency. The heart of Bitcoin and other coins is decentralization. They are the people’s currency and governments will never truly be able to stomp them out.

Bitcoin Always Recovers

Tom Lee, the former JP Morgan Chief Equity Strategist and current Head of Research for Fundstrat, made an appearance on CNBC’s Fast Money about Bitcoin is still a strong investment and store of value. “I unequivocally believe bitcoin is your best investment to the end of the year.” Lee went on to say that he believes Bitcoin will be worth $25,000 in five years.

Bitcoin investors are used to these types of swings in price because one thing remains true: Bitcoin always recovers.

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It’s Official: India to Legalize Bitcoin Soon

Posted on July 20, 2017 | by [email protected]

Like others around the world, the Indian government has had its initial reservations about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The country’s reserve bank on several occasions has issued warnings to the public on cryptocurrency use risk.

Even with these warnings, bitcoin adoption in the country only grew. Things came to a head on November 8, 2016. Prime Minister Narendra Modi decreed that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, the largest denomination currency notes, were no longer legal tender.

The following day long queues formed outside banks and government owned gas pumps as people tried to convert the now useless notes to smaller denominations. That pushed even more Indians to hold and buy bitcoin.

The Bitcoin Taskforce

In March 2017, Kirit Somaiya, a Member of Parliament of the ruling BJP party, wrote to the reserve bank of India, the ministry of finance and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). He wanted an urgent study done about bitcoin and its use in the country. Kirit:

“The use of Bitcoin, a hypothetical currency, is increasing at a rapid speed in India as well as in the world….there is urgent need to have a study on the development of Bitcoin in India.”

In early April 2017, the government formed a taskforce to look into bitcoin and other digital currencies. The taskforce’s mandate included formulating a framework that would guide industry regulation.

Members of public and other stakeholders were invited to give opinion. On MyGov, the official government portal, close to 4000 submissions were made and the majority were in support of legalizing bitcoin in India.

The Digital Asset and Blockchain Foundation of India, a non-profit organization that represents local bitcoin businesses, is one of the entities that sought audience with the taskforce.

Change of Heart

As the regulators got more enlightened about cryptocurrencies, in particular, through the work of the taskforce, their stand softened. In fact, the Asian country is now on the path to joining countries like Japan, Australia and South Korea that have in the recent past recognised bitcoin as a digital asset or a private currency.

On July 13, CoinDesk reported that India is considering imposing goods-and-services tax on bitcoin purchases. This is a far position from the push that some elements in the government made to have the cryptocurrency banned. An official:

“The discussion on whether crypto-currencies should be banned or regulated has been on for some time. The pros and cons for both aspects were put forth in the meeting chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last month.”

The tax on bitcoin purchases will be the first step to industry regulation. Most bitcoin companies operating in India such as exchanges and remittance services have long self-regulated.

They have observed the Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements. Therefore there will be little impact on how they operate when the regulator starts having a closer look at their operations.

Bitcoin’s legalization in India is critical and will have a significant network effect. India has the second largest population after China. It also has one of the largest unbanked populations. Bitcoin could be the technology that brings millions of Indians to financial inclusivity.

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Indian Government seeks Public opinion on how Bitcoin should be Regulated

Posted on May 30, 2017 | by [email protected]

In India, the government is asking ordinary citizens on how they want Bitcoin to be regulated in the country. This will, according to the government, help the country to formulate a regulatory framework for all digital currencies including Bitcoin.

The Indian government through the ministry of finance recently announced that members of the public are invited to submit their views regarding digital currency. The website mygov.in which was designed, developed and hosted by the National Informatics Center under the Ministry of Electronics and information Technology is where Indians or people living in India can give their views on digital currency. The government set a deadline of May 31st, 2017, for the last submissions to be made.

What really does the Indian Government wants to inquire through Mygov.in

A quick look at the mygov.in website we came across the main queries of the website which clearly state, “should digital currency be banned, Regulated or Observed?”. This is the first question asked in a series of questions on the mygov.in website. The website continues asking a series of questions depending on what the user of the site chose before. It seems like the government has not made up their mind on whether digital currency should be legalized in India or be banned. However, previously Reserve Bank of India said they are not monitoring the cryptocurrencies yet and maintained a neutral stand. We cannot conclude that the Indian Government’s intentions are to ban the currency as it is allowing the majority to decide what’s good for them.

Is It really Possible to Completely Ban Digital Currencies in India?

This is a million dollar questions which has already been asked by millions of people across the world. The naked answer, however, remains a complete No. Digital currencies are peer to peer in nature meaning that a user does not need authority for access from a third party before a transaction in digital currency can be completed. There are sophisticated technologies at government disposal but in 2017 none of these censorship technologies can stop such a decentralized system. Hence the step can be seen as Government’s acknowledgment that cryptocurrencies are here to stay and rather than banning them, they are trying to regulate them.

What is really wrong with Digital Currency that a lot of Nations want it regulated or banned.

Bitcoin and other digital currencies have had mixed reactions from many governments across the globe since their inception. Some governments embraced the development and deployed it into their systems. These governments also helped improve digital currencies mostly on security grounds. However, some governments have tried to block the digital currencies in their territories. This has been a futile attempt without any positive results solidly because of the nature of technology available at the reach of a common citizen.

VeChain Joins PwC’s blockchain Accelerator in Hong Kong

Posted on May 21, 2017 | by [email protected]

PwC and BitSE held a signing ceremony on Monday in Hong Kong with Raymund Chao, PwC Greater China Chairman, and DJ Qian, CEO of BitSE and VeChain, to make the agreement official. A second signing ceremony was held in Singapore on May 17 with Mr. Qian and Yeoh Oon Jin, PwC Singapore’s Executive Chairman.

“In the journey of a joint business relationship between PwC and BitSE, we are delighted to achieve this significant milestone together with PwC. VeChain S.E.A, a subsidiary of BitSE, will focus on accelerating VeChain business expansion in Southeast Asia,” said DJ Qian, a former IBM executive who left the multinational technology firm in 2013 to join the blockchain industry.

“Besides technology, industry know-how and market experiences are equally important to apply blockchain technology. We share the same vision with PwC to improve the efficiency and lower the cost of trust in supply chain management. I believe this in-depth cooperation will definitely accelerate the transformation of supply chain management.”

VeChain, which launched in November 2016, is an enterprise software designed to create, manage, maintain and update shared data about products in the supply chain. VeChain is a state-of-the-art collaboration platform, making the supply chain more transparent and solving important problems that exist in the modern supply chain. So far, this platform has already been adopted by several established companies as part of their production system in industries such as luxury, fashion, logistics, pharmaceuticals, automotive, food safety, and wine and spirits.

PwC’s incubator program will help VeChain accelerate its deployment in Hong Kong and South East Asia, as well as offer the blockchain startup strategic advice. PwC will also provide more resources, industry know-how and blockchain research to improve the design of VeChain and solve even more problems than the platform already does while expanding into more industries and onboarding more clients.

“Embracing advanced technology for growth becomes the top priority for many business sectors,” says Mr. Chao. “Innovative applications and solutions could improve the effectiveness of supply chain, brand reputation, and even customer experience. We are excited about the joint initiative between PwC and BitSE and the VeChain services we provide that could help our clients achieve greater success. I envisage our services will create an impact and deliver on our firm’s purpose of building trust in society and solve important problems.”

Mr. Oon Jin added:

“Disruption is here to stay in our current volatile business environment and it brings both opportunities and challenges. We firmly believe that it is through embracing disruptive change that allows innovation to flourish. This is an exciting milestone for us, and we are confident that together with VeChain we will bring more value to the marketplace through collaborative innovation.”

PwC’s global network features more than 223,000 professionals across industries. BitSE’s more than 70 employees worldwide and over 50 professional blockchain application developers make it one of the largest blockchain-focused startups. The two companies partnered one year ago to promote blockchain adoption in Asia and around the world.

About BitSE

BitSE (short for Bit Service Expert) provides blockchain-enabled, enterprise-grade software infrastructures tested and documented for enterprise. As a Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) company, BitSE lowers the costs of doing business. The company was established in 2013. As one of the first blockchain technology research teams in China, BitSE has more than 70 employees worldwide, including more than 50 professional blockchain application developers working to implement digital asset and blockchain technology designed for enterprises. BitSE’s blockchain-enabled technology is transforming enterprise operations in the same way that the Internet changed content creation. BitSE’s open-source, collaborative software approach ensures the transparency, longevity, and interoperability that blockchain-enabled technologies need.

About PwC – Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Singapore

PwC China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Singapore work together on a collaborative basis, subject to local applicable laws. Collectively, we have around 800 partners and 20,000 people in total.

PwC provide organisations with the professional service they need, wherever they may be located. Our highly qualified, experienced professionals listen to different points of view to help organisations solve their business issues and identify and maximise the opportunities they seek. Our industry specialisation allows us to help co-create solutions with our clients for their sector of interest.

PwC offices are located in these cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenyang, Dalian, Tianjin, Jinan, Qingdao, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wuhan, Changsha, Xi’an, Chengdu, Chongqing, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Macau, Taipei, Chungli, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Singapore.

Dubai exchange BitOasis Raises Limits for Card Purchases of Bitcoin

Posted on May 10, 2017 | by [email protected]

BitOasis is the first digital currency wallet and exchange service in the Middle East that enables one to buy, sell and secure bitcoin. BitOasis exchange recently announced for UAE users that they have increased weekly bitcoin buy limits using credit/debit cards up to 500 AED (around 1300 USD).

Back in February 21st, BitOasis first introduced instant card transactions with an initial limit of 2000 AED.The founder , Ola Doudin and the developer Daniel Robenek who came up with the idea of creating BitOasis that allows Middle East countries like Saudi Arabia to carry out bitcoin transactions using cards like other financial institutions such as bank.

Other Dubai Based Exchange platforms

The other Dubai exchange platforms include Sharaf Exchange, NASDAQ Dubai Fixed Income Trading platform, Dubai Mercantile Exchange, Dubai Diamond Exchange and others that keenly help in transactions of bitcoins. Dubai a city regarded by many as an upcoming technology Hub of the world has numerous investments in cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin. Dubai has a dwindling oil wealth which is expected to be economically non-viable in the few coming decades. This has pushed the sheiks who rule the city to think of an economic activity that would put their country on the global map with regards to tourism and entertainment. This has led to massive investments in the FinTech sector of the economy. Many exchanges popped up in Dubai in recent years and hundreds of transactions are being processed daily. This is still estimated to hike as the economy is still expanding signaling that Dubai still has a wider market for Bitcoin exchange services.

Why could have BitOasis raised its limits

BitOasis raised its limits to allow users to go for a higher weekly buy, sell and withdrawal limits. BitOasis hopes to attract more trading on their platform and it is an online exchange based in the Middle East(UAE) to allow the Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia to carry out bitcoin transactions rather than going to banks to carry out the financial transactions. This, however, will affect users dealing with small volumes of Bitcoin. Majorly Bitcoin exchanges and Hi-tech firms dealing in bitcoin are the ones dealing in massive volumes of the cryptocurrency. People dealing with smaller volume of Bitcoin like freelance online workers would find it expensive. However, this would open ways for smaller exchanges to cash in from the people who transact in smaller volumes. Furthermore, this hike could have been due to peripheral taxes levied on every transaction passing via other partners like banks or mobile money services. Many users still have not bitterly complained about the raise indicating the less effect the rise has on the users of the exchange.

Effects of this Hike

Most of the effects, however, is expected to be in the positive sense but not what every would perceive. It’s seen that money laundering will be bitterly checked by this new improvement since users would legitimately order for lager buy and sell trade so as to cover the high cost. But still as seen before microtransactions will be hampered a lot and users who transact with small volume of bitcoin will find it difficult to carry out exchange into fiat currencies. Transactions between Bitcoins and other fiat currencies via banks will become much easier allowing remittance of funds from abroad to the economy or from Dubai to families of foreign workers.

LIBERSTAD: The Bitcoin City!

Posted on May 2, 2017 | by [email protected]

Deep in Rural Norway, a Bitcoin city is being created. The out of the dream city will accept anything else other than the National currency. This city will provide free schools, and social amenities and other social for free. An exact creation gotten right from a page in the book written by Bitcoin developer Satoshi.

What is the Exact Idea behind the Private city?

The project wants to create a city where public services are freely provided by the people, all land are under private ownership. Other services like schools, hospitals, courts, insurance companies and others will also be provided free of charge through voluntary organizations or bodies. Therefore markets are free from taxes and any kind of force.

Any resident can start a business free of charge provided they will accept no other currency other than the Norwegian krone (the national currency). Those who want to use the national currency will have to first register with the government. Although the city looks to be a dream which might be hard to achieve given the natural long process of city development and the pace at which the developers want this city ready for occupation. Most likely the government might also bring bureaucratic issues which might delay the city development.

How Bitcoin will benefit from Liberstad?

So far more than 60 people have already made some payments for plots and just about 4.5 hectares land is remaining. Payments using Bitcoin are being encouraged extensively by the project. Liberstad Drift AS is making plans to give discounts to those who will pay in Bitcoins. The city will deploy Blockchain to run all its services ranging from voting city officials to registrations of citizens. The city intends to have its own cryptocurrency with much links to Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology. It could be merely because of the very fragile Bitcoin price making developers think of a cryptocurrency they have more control over other than Bitcoin which is controlled by complex market forces.

What is the Norwegian government saying?

So far the Government of Norway is still continuously given green lights to all of the city’s new development ideas and Blueprints. Concurrently Libertad the Municipality that will host the city has no tax on properties; this has had a very forward advantage to the city developers since customers pay for their Land tax-free.

Meanwhile, I can’t exactly be so naïve to say this city is already a flop, it will take some time for the ambitious city to function as modeled by its developers.

Ethereum activities gain traction in China during Bitcoin’s struggle through scrutiny

Posted on April 30, 2017 | by [email protected]

China has been the major reason for sudden spikes in Bitcoin prices during 2016 owing to the hedging activities of Chinese investors during Yuan’s devaluation. These activities brought the cryptocurrency under the scrutiny of the Chinese Central Bank that has been fighting off capital flight for some time now. As PBOC believed that Bitcoin might be one of the easy and efficient ways to send money out of the country, they have decided to place strict KYCs for the Bitcoin exchanges. To set up an able system that monitors and regulates any laundering activity, the exchanges have banned fiat withdrawals that led to a sudden drop in volumes from China. While the process is still in motion, Bitcoin’s conjugate Ethereum has picked up the pace in China with better adoption and group meetings on regular basis. Let’s look into the details of Ethereum and how it has been making progress in China:

Ethereum as Bitcoin’s conjugate:

Ethereum has consolidated its place in investor portfolio owing to its multiple applications and its growing stability. The cryptocurrency jumped by $5 from $42 to $47 when Bitcoin crumbled under the pressure of a possible hard fork. This revealed that investors are transferring funds between Bitcoin and Ethereum as part of their portfolios interchangeably according to the shifting dynamics of the cryptocurrency. Hence Ethereum truly has become Bitcoin’s conjugate and owing to its executable smart contracts on Blockchain is finding good value with the investors.

Increasing activity in China:

Ethereum activities are increasing in China, due to increasing interests in the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and the Ethereum network’s applicability to a wide range of infrastructures across a multitude of industries.Chinese bitcoin exchanges have recognized a surge in interest and demand for Ethereum. As a result, major bitcoin exchanges including OKCoin have announced the integration of support for Ethereum or Ether trading.

CnLedger announced:
“Our source tells us OKCoin is now planning on listing Ethereum. “May list it at the appropriate time.” Confirmed by OKC customer service.”

What Ether’s future looks like:

At the time of writing this article, Ethereum passed $80 reaching an all-time high. Consequently, the market cap for Ethereum has moved from $6 Billion to over $7 Billion. With a significant presence now in the Chinese sphere, Ether trading is bound to pick up. Regular meet ups over ETC and ETH are being conducted in China with the cryptocurrency proponents taking keen interest in the structure of the digital asset and its applications.

Bank of Korea’s paper says cryptocurrencies and Fiat can develop symbiotic relationship

Posted on April 27, 2017 | by [email protected]

South Korea’s Bitcoin adoption has been on the rise ever since Chinese exchanges stopped withdrawals. While Japan has truly eaten into the Chinese trading volumes, South Korea has secured the fifth spot in terms of trading currencies by volume. The central bank and the financial legislative committee of South Korea have decided to not only adopt cryptocurrencies but also launch a cryptocurrency of their own. While the country is taking a positive yet cautious approach towards digital currencies, they are diverting the good amount of effort in studying them in detail. The result of such research is the recent paper by the Central Bank of Korea that predicts how cryptocurrencies and Fiat currencies would go on to develop a symbiotic relationship. Let’s look into the details of the paper and how they are proposing this would happen:

How cryptocurrencies would be sought after:

Cryptocurrency Art Gallery by Namecoin via Attribution Engine. Licensed under CC BY.

The working draft submitted by the researchers from the Bank of Korea and Seoul’s Hongik University aims to identify factors that could drive the use of a blockchain-based currency over a government-issued one. The paper clearly highlights the cost-effectiveness of cryptocurrencies and point out that it would turn out to be an attractive positive for cross-border transfers. However, while the cryptocurrency’s flagship advantages are being identified as the key factors, we cannot completely rule out the advantages of fiat currencies.

The proposed symbiotic relationship:

The authors proposed that there would likely be a symbiotic relationship if cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin gain a wider user base and good levels of adoption. For example, when the cost of using one currency rises, the other is likely to fall thereby increasing the attractiveness of the other option. While in cases where factors like speed of transfer or any other factor that influences the priority of decisions, either of the currencies might take precedence depending upon the necessity.

The authors wrote:

“High costs of using fiat currency increase the demand for digital currency. Similarly, high costs of using digital currency relative to fiat currency raise the demand for fiat currency. In a world of imperfect currencies with uncertain costs associated with the use of a currency, it is unlikely that the relative costs of using digital currency will be low enough to drive out and accordingly crowd out fiat currency entirely.”

How the findings will assist central banks:

Most of the Central Banks are currently not in a position to regulate or monitor cryptocurrency as the impact of this sphere over the existing monetary system is something beyond speculation. However, the paper gives some insight into how we can expect the future dynamics of crypto and fiat currencies to shape up. The authors believe that the results of their paper can help shape up the future of a composite monetary system across the globe.

Bitcoin Prevents War

Posted on April 24, 2017 | by [email protected] | Leave a Comment

President Trump probably made a nice bundle on the missile manufacturer Raytheon stock recently after dropping their products on Syria. In 2015, Raytheon was named in Trump’s portfolio in an FEC filing for having made less than $200. Today, the cash amount probably exceeds that number, and we will probably see the profit from this stock in the next Trump FEC filing.

These records and research of the US Government Office of Ethics are searchable and public as required by good governance to limit and deter conflicts of interest just like this one. Though civil servants are required to show these records, our individual taxes paid are not traceable. The technology needed currently exists to distribute each of our payments and make them fully accountable.

Imagine that you could publicly track your tax payment to a slush fund and then into one of the $1.4 million price of each Raytheon missile. You could accurately calculate the money each operation costs, what department of the government issued it, even the base and soldier that released it. Imagine you can access this information as an American citizen but having the ability to keep it private from others, just like many of our other services like Social Security, and only allow those with full clearance to see everything while only revealing limited information to the public instantly. If funds are registered on the Blockchain, you would be able to do this easily. In fact, we could trace which towns and states paid for each of these missiles. Would this stop the war? Perhaps, as our ability to discourse on the internet would be backed by information. Now, we can accurately answer the question of “if we can fund these missiles how come we cannot feed hungry people?”

Groups of people could organize, exchange ideas, and quickly trace each payment when they visit their elected officials and when they pay taxes. Imagine Facebook and Twitter as a public utility. Voting could be done on the blockchain, too. Corruption could be a thing of the past as no dollar could be siphoned off as it is now due to traceability and the opacity of current governance models. Transparency is the future of governance as we build out these tools and this is the promise of decentralized technologies.

Imagine what we could do with $2.99 trillion and the level of genuine democratic engagement created by this transparency.