The Ultimate Currency?
Bitcoin, a virtual peer-to-peer currency, as represented by a physical coin.
Can there be advantages to a decentralized, non-physical currency that has never been counterfeited?
Does such a currency exist? Yes. Bitcoin. The “digital currency” made its appearance in 2009 and has steadily become more widely used and accepted (1). This new form of money manages transactions over an open source network (2). But do bitcoins have any real value?
Ultimately, it is society that decides whether something has value or not (1). If there is a significant amount of people that trust it, then yes, it can be used whether or not it is backed by banks or governments. On August 6, 2013, in verdict of a case involving bitcoin scam, a Texas judge stated that people value Bitcoins as currency and should be treated as such — including offenders being subject to charges from the U.S. Security Exchange Commission (3). Furthermore, the currency has been used to facilitate an underground network for illicit drug trade called Silk Road (4).
It is clear that there is a growing demand for bitcoin, which may create a storm in the world of business. By accepting bitcoin as a form of payment, businesses can increase their popularity by opening themselves to the growing market of bitcoin users all over the world. But what are the long term implications of this?
References
1) http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/bitcoin-faces-its-critics
4) http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/silk-road-s-alleged-mastermind-how-the-fbi-caught-him-1.1894067
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