The Future of CryptoCurrency
Introduction
Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of the Bitcoin protocol set out with a dream to revolutionize finance and the world as we know it through a decentralized blockchain system in which all transactions are anonymous and confirmed by computer processors globally. It has been almost 5 years since the Bitcoin White Paper was released to the public and it has since grown to become a multi-billion dollar asset used by millions worldwide. But of course, with any new technology, others will attempt to improve and advance what has been set in place. New currencies, commonly called alt-coins, started to crop up both improving upon the core idea of Bitcoin and introducing new ideas like .bit domain registration in the case of Namecoin. Some of the coins that came out following Bitcoin were, Litecoin, Namecoin, IXCoin, and many others.
People fear change. Change scares us all. The idea that the system that we have grown accustomed to since the day we first bought a candy bar at the corner store, has been deceiving us all is a difficult concept to grasp. Fractional Reserve banking is the system in which banks and governments worldwide have been deceiving their citizens into believing that their $1 will always be worth $1 and the bank will always have the exact amount of money you deposited ready tomorrow. This is simply not the case with decentralized currencies like Bitcoin as there is no central authority to control the supply and transfer of Bitcoins; all transactions occur through the anonymized peer to peer blockchain. This means that there are no middle men and you retain control over 100% of your money; in essence you are your own bank.
Alt-coins have always been dependent on the success of Bitcoin for their own long term success. Litecoin, for example, when released was worth about $0.03 per coin while Bitcoin was at $7.60. Within 5 months, when Bitcoin experienced its extreme growth from $600 to $1100, Litecoin subsequently multiplied its price fivefold from $8 to $40. Since the bubble and with Bitcoin’s slow slide in price, to this day, Litecoin’s price has never been the same, falling back down to ~$8 per coin.
Litecoin has been the most successful of all other alt coins with its stability and adoption as a “silver” to bitcoins gold.
Given this information, the biggest question is, how can the public shake their fear and adopt this new currency? There are a few options at hand right now that we can use to help spread awareness and daily use of Bitcoin:
- The mass-production and adoption of Bitcoin ATM’s in more cities, stores, and airports.
- The simplification of the currency’s divisibility. I.E. the marketing and greater use of terms like mbits, bits, ubits to take away from the intimidating look of 0.004532 bitcoin prices.
- More marketing projects in the form of charities
If we are able to successfully take the ideas of the many, instead of the few in a centralized system, then we will be able to grow and develop our beloved currency. Many individuals believe that Bitcoin and its siblings will never grow to be much more than a passing fad and will never carry weight in the real world. But, with new projects coming down the pipe like Stellar and Ripple aimed to simplify cryptocurrencies and remove their intimidating qualities, I believe that crypto will come to revolutionize, if not remove the current fractional reserve fiat system we have in place globally today.
Written by Taylan Unal (Last Saved 2014-08-03)