Various finance experts have recommended putting bitcoin in investment portfolios, for example by using it as a store of value.
The digital currency is not without its problems, however. According to companies like SoFi, ts value has soared to around $18,000 per coin over the last 24 hours, after briefly dipping below $10,000 late on Wednesday night.
Bitcoin is an open-source peer-to-peer payment network that lets people exchange money or information without a central authority. It was launched in 2009 and is the first large, decentralized virtual currency.
It has received a wide range of interest in recent years, from Wall Street investors who use it to buy luxury goods such as paintings and cars, to Silicon Valley companies that use it to pay for goods and services online.
Related: Is Bitcoin a bubble or the future of money?
One potential concern is bitcoin’s security. There are worries it could be hacked, allowing hackers to siphon off money and data.
Bitcoin’s developers have responded to this concern by working hard to make its software as secure as possible, which is one reason why it has become the go-to cryptocurrency for many online merchants and startups.
Bitcoin also comes with some privacy benefits for consumers. If you pay for something online with bitcoin, you have to trust the store or company that it isn’t collecting information about who you are and giving it to third parties. At the same time, bitcoin’s high volatility means that it may have a volatile value, which could lead to some headaches for people who live paycheck to paycheck.
2. Bitcoin has its own legal status.
The biggest problem with bitcoin is the lack of regulatory framework in place. It’s not easy to exchange it for real dollars or euro, and many online services don’t want to deal with such volatile currencies, which makes purchasing bitcoin from them extremely difficult. If it were regulated, it would be easy to transfer your money to, say, pay off your credit card bill or pay off your student loans
John Boske:
Wild ARMs has become one of those series where I like every other installment. 1 was great, 2 was irritating, 3 was fun (and ACF was fun++), 4 was dull, and now I’m hearing that 5 is good stuff. The presence of Michiko Naruke on the soundtrack just seals it. She always delivers <3
Wallet, pack your things! We’re going to the mall.
16 September 2007, 8:52 amDuke Gallison:
I’ll definitely pick this one up, though it’ll have to wait since I’m still tied up with Persona 3…
17 September 2007, 9:41 am