The value of BTC is as a store of value, and it does that very, very well.
Steal big, and you have an anonymous safe place to store your loot; protected by both technology and the collected ‘enforcement’ of other similarly influential, and like-minded people. Rob a bank, or steal via QE driven inflation; you have the same need - and similar influential like-minded people. What a coincidence!
Yes, it’s a great storehouse, but it’s a sh1te ‘store of value’. Not any more - CME derivatives allow the user to continually hedge the value of BTC, and at an ongoing cost well below that of alternative ‘security’. To the anarchists central banks are criminals, on par with the obvious buyers of BTC. The anarchists just recognize that when two scorpions are confined within a small bottle (Yin/Yang), everyone is safer. Mutually Assured Destruction, is a well-proven nuclear arms deterrent.
Should an Apple, Google, or Facebook create their own currency, it would quickly become a global reserve currency – and compete directly with central banks. Forcing central banks to issue their own digital currencies, and a digital global reserve currency for trade settlement - backed by all central banks. All good.
The rub is that BTC is like no other asset, so how do you value it? The reality is that you cannot, hence the need for ongoing hedging, and co-opting the gambling market that it creates - criminals aren’t stupid. Accepting BTC for a luxury goods payment, is just being practical; a payment in dirty money, or BTC - the outcome is the same. Whether that be cars, or Rembrandt’s bought as future ‘get out of jail free’ cards.
Point? BTC is here to stay, value will change according to the underlying need, and there will be hiccups along the way. Nobody likes change, and this is not your grandpas or your dad’s technology. Ever since day-1, cultures and businesses have sought out the rebels, and ‘assimilated’ them (Star Trek ‘Borg’). Todays rebels become tomorrow’s leadership, and this is no different.
SD
