Bitcoin is nothing less than a giant on the economy at this moment in time, as the average value of all bitcoins that have been mined so far put together is of over $3 billion. While the cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly popular, and more businesses have started accepting and issuing payments with the currency, many people from all around the world wonder what it took to make the coin become eminent.
To put things better into perspective, back in 2010, when people first started selling things for bitcoins, a pizza would cost around 10,000 coins. In today’s value, a $2.3 million pizza is out of the question. The currency then evolved to its value of around $1000 around a year ago, only to fall to around $250 and stay there. So, what is truly responsible for the massive value increase of the cryptocurrency?
Well, the answer to this question may be quite shocking! Recent analysis that has been carried out by economists show that without dealings in what we like to call the ‘grey areas’ of the economy, bitcoin may not have been lucky enough to have the amount of success that it has had so far. What’s interesting is that Gavin Andresen, the chief scientist at the Bitcoin Foundation, who is probably one of the most prominent figures on the Bitcoin market, is the one who has made this statement.
With this in mind, it has to be acknowledged that the cryptocurrency first became popular when it started being used in the United States for online gambling, as many were forbidden from using dollars to gamble by the law. After this, bitcoin also represented the driving force in the Silkroad market, which was practically the world’s biggest bazaar for illegal drugs and contraband goods, until it was closed later in 2013.
Based on these factors, without being used for these shady activities, chances are that Bitcoin wouldn’t have received the boost in popularity it needed to become so valuable. Andresen also stated that new technologies often start out in the shadows or the grey areas and then eventually become mainstream, which is exactly the case with Bitcoin. Now, most major companies with a presence on the Internet may have considered using bitcoin as a form of accepting payments, which is exactly what is needed in order to grant people more control over the economy, in a world that is basically driven forward by money.
With everything that has been outlined so far in mind, what do you personally think about the currency’s evolution? Do you think that the same principle could apply to future trends as well?