Re:Increase in Bitcoin Addresses as More People Join the BTC...
by tnbalsam on Friday November 20, 2020 @04:09AM
(#25158694)
I think the above properties define a currency.
Currencies are tangible, generally recognizable and agreed-upon value containers to be traded for goods and services.
Calling it anything else at this point, I'd contend, would likely be essentially incorrect of its own merits, and I do think trying to separate it out would create confusion as it really does no good at all.
It is certainly a special kind of currency, but no different than some of the other universal currencies that we've had in the past, really, at all.
However, 10 years later, Bitcoin has proved to be a new kind of financial instrument, with extremely useful properties unmatched by any other kind of asset.
At this point, of all the things Bitcoin can do that other financial assets can't (pseudo-anonymous, extremely hard to confiscate, can be moved quasi instantaneously across borders, demonstrably finite supply, can be use as a settlement layer for large players, etc ...) the one aspect that I believe attracts people is "store of value".
Many people contest that last property citing high volatility, and they're correct if your window is less than 4 years. But for folks who play the long game, supply and demand tells a verycompelling story for Bitcoin.
Calling Bitcoin a "currency" at this point is essentially incorrect and just creates confusion.
[1] https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf