The value of a bitcoin peaked at $20,000 in 2018, dropped below $5,000 earlier this year, and just rose above $10,000 again. Amateur and professional speculators have attempted to profit from its volatility. If you are interested in technical explanations or \u201cinvesting\u201d in bitcoin, there is a lot of information available online. I am not providing any financial advice.<\/p>\n
What is a bitcoin and why are so many people interested? Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency not connected to a central bank or government administrator. It\u2019s not the only cryptocurrency available today, but it\u2019s getting the most attention. Some online businesses accept bitcoin as payment in lieu of US dollars or other national currencies.<\/p>\n
Bitcoin has experienced growth pains, but interest in the cryptocurrency tell us a lot about economics and government intervention. Unlike fiat currencies like dollars or euros, cryptocurrencies cannot be printed or devalued by government decree. If you withdraw $10,000 from a bank in the US, the transaction will be reported to the feds. Bitcoins are not subject to the same reporting requirements.<\/p>\n
As you might imagine, governments are getting nervous about cryptocurrencies because they permit financial activity without government oversight or taxation. Some argue that such control permits governments to track drug purchases and other nefarious activity. That\u2019s not a good excuse and I don\u2019t buy the argument that you shouldn\u2019t be concerned about government monitoring \u201cif you don\u2019t have anything to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not the only person who wants to live free of government intervention, which is why cryptocurrencies are here to stay. Bitcoin might not solve the problem over the long term, but its technical mechanisms and growing acceptance are paving the way for individuals and businesses to exchange value for value without answering to big brother. Cryptocurrencies challenge governmental monopolies on money creation and permit financial privacy. Bitcoin\u2019s volatility is interesting, but you should keep an eye on the coming restrictions on crypto transactions. Your decision to use (or not use) bitcoin should be your own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The value of a bitcoin peaked at $20,000 in 2018, dropped below $5,000 earlier this year, and just rose above $10,000 again. Amateur and professional speculators have attempted to profit from its volatility. If you are interested in technical explanations or \u201cinvesting\u201d in bitcoin, there is a lot of information available online. I am not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1294"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1294\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}