Ten years ago, most people would have laughed if you said you hold part of your investment portfolio in cryptocurrency — a type of virtual currency that is secured through various cryptographic and computer-generated means. But these days, you might be seen as behind on the times if you don't currently invest, or if you have never traded a single Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin in your life.
Like it or not, cryptocurrency is practically everywhere these days and no longer just for day traders and nerds. In fact, many traditional businesses are integrating cryptocurrency into their platforms in some form, or using it as a means to launch other types of products.
Bitcoin cryptocurrency symbol on yellow balloon. Man hold needle directed to air balloon. Concept of finance risk
GETTY
Cryptocurrency Continues Gaining Steam
Case in point: In October of 2020, PayPal launched a new service that made it possible for their account holders to buy, sell, or hold cryptocurrency, or to use it to buy stuff at 26 million different merchants.
PROMOTED
According to the payment platform, mainstream use of cryptocurrencies has largely been "hindered by their limited utility as an instrument of exchange due to volatility, cost and speed to transact."
However, they believe their platform could provide a means to make cryptocurrency more useful as a payment method.
"The shift to digital forms of currencies is inevitable, bringing with it clear advantages in terms of financial inclusion and access; efficiency, speed and resilience of the payments system; and the ability for governments to disburse funds to citizens quickly," said Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal in a press release.
MORE FOR YOU
Expect This For Your Student Loans Tomorrow
JPMorgan Issues Bitcoin Price Crash Warning After Sudden Bitcoin Sell-Off
2021 Bitcoin Price Predictions: Is The Massive Bitcoin Bull Run About To Peak?
Edmund McCormack, founder of crypto investment platform DChained, says this move on behalf of Paypal PYPL +3.7% was expected but also needed to usher cryptocurrency into the mainstream.
"This decision directly addresses three of the most common objections that cryptocurrency has faced in the last 10 years, including practicality for day-to-day purchases, a clearly defined and easy to use marketplace, and legitimacy," he says.
McCormack also points to the payment platform Square SQ +9.3%, which reportedly invested $50 million into Bitcoin in October of last year.
At the moment, you can choose from a nice selection of cryptocurrency savings accounts. In the near future, you may also be able to sign up for the world's first-ever Bitcoin rewards credit card, which will be offered by BlockFi. The BlockFi Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card will work like traditional rewards credit cards, except that you'll earn 1.5% back on each purchase in Bitcoin instead of in another rewards currency. Currently, this card is on a waitlist.
What does all of this mean? As more and more businesses and platforms find ways to utilize cryptocurrency — or let their customers use it — it will become even more mainstream than it already is. But, should you invest in cryptocurrency?
The answer depends on who you ask.
Why You Should Consider Investing In Crypto
According to Claire Lovell, Associate Director of Product Management at Gemini (a cryptocurrency investment platform), Bitcoin reaching all-time highs and legacy financial institutions adopting cryptocurrency means that digital currencies have finally become an important part of finance and FinTech.
In terms of advantages, Lovell says cryptocurrency gives consumers greater choice, independence, and opportunity in their finances. Further, cryptocurrency’s decentralized, open-source nature helps "eliminate the weak points of the modern banking system by bringing access directly to consumers," she says. This makes it easier to buy, sell, store, and trade the best performing assets of the last decade.
Not only that, but Drew Hamilton, CEO of Rubix.io (a cryptocurrency platform) says cryptocurrency is in its infancy. This means that, if you invest now, you could be getting in on the ground floor "even though the prices seem high."
After all, some experts have suggested that Bitcoin could be worth as much as $100,000 one day. A leaked (and frequently cited) report from Citibank even showed that one industry insider believes the digital currency could surpass $300,000 per coin by the end of 2021.
Attorney Len Garza, Esq. of Garza Business and Estate Law, agrees that investing in a new investment vehicle like Bitcoin has the potential to lead to massive gains (as well as massive losses). Further, cryptocurrency is easily one of the most liquid investment assets since trading platforms have been established across the globe.
The Case Against Cryptocurrency
But, not everyone thinks investing in cryptocurrency is a good idea — at least not for the average investor.
According to Garza, the flipside of the "newness" of cryptocurrency is the incredible volatility we've seen so far. Simply put, investing in cryptocurrency isn't for the faint of heart.
For example, one Litecoin would have set you back more than $300 at the end of 2017 ($306.87 on December 15, 2017), but the currency dropped to around $30 by January of 2019. At the time of this writing, one Litcoin is worth $140.96.
And we all know that Bitcoin fell below $4,000 per coin in January of 2019 before hitting an all-time high (so far) at $41,940 on January 8, 2021. While it's always fun to win, that's a wild ride many people would never want to be on.
Aside from the volatility, Garza says cryptocurrency is ripe for fraudsters since there are no regulations that govern the various markets.
"Buyer beware," he says.
Finally, hacking is a big threat if you’re a crypto investor. Online exchanges permit you to trade your cryptos on mobile apps and websites, both of which expose you to hackers stealing all of your investment. And if someone gets their hands on your cryptocurrency, well, there's really nothing you can do about it.
Ryan Shuchman, partner of Cornerstone Financial Services in Southfield, Michigan also points out that crypto investors are required to use non-traditional custodians to acquire and manage their funds. Unfortunately, Shuchman says companies like Coinbase and Gemini lack the track record of security and stability that custodians such as Fidelity, Vanguard, and TD Ameritrade have earned.
For these reasons and others, Robert R. Johnson, PhD, CFA, CAIA and Professor of Finance at Heider College of Business, Creighton University, says that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are "the purview of speculators." No one should consider buying Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency as an investment, he says.
Johnson says the only way to value cryptocurrencies is through the greater fool theory, which requires a greater fool to pay you more than you paid.
But, he says you don't have to listen to him. Instead, Johnson says to listen to Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B +2% Vice Chairman Charlie Munger who is famous for sharing his thoughts on investing in cryptocurrency:
"It's like somebody else is trading turds and you decide you can't be left out."
bitcoin rus monero transaction segwit2x bitcoin
fork bitcoin
bitcoin мошенники monero курс roulette bitcoin ethereum вывод ethereum web3 bitcoin государство
wifi tether bitcoin knots график bitcoin купить ethereum ethereum geth bitcoin анализ bitcoin expanse bitcoin бесплатные прогнозы bitcoin bitcoin buying bitcoin ishlash the ethereum maining bitcoin bitcoin перспектива
bitcoin регистрации bitcoin fees
ethereum bitcoin bitcoin future ethereum 1080 робот bitcoin blocks bitcoin map bitcoin
адреса bitcoin
total cryptocurrency bitcoin traffic fpga ethereum bitcoin счет
bitcoin redex mine ethereum solo bitcoin kupit bitcoin ethereum code bitcoin gift js bitcoin boxbit bitcoin ethereum btc
хайпы bitcoin
bitcoin цена programming bitcoin bitcoin book сети ethereum работа bitcoin bitcoin разделился payoneer bitcoin bitcoin теханализ bitcoin free the ethereum reindex bitcoin bitcoin суть nodes bitcoin ethereum btc client bitcoin bitcoin рост цена ethereum комиссия bitcoin dollar bitcoin обменники bitcoin ethereum gas What Is a Mining Pool?konverter bitcoin ethereum обменять bitcoin rotator amazon bitcoin баланс bitcoin обменник ethereum кран ethereum bitcoin background bitcoin future
accepts bitcoin bitcoin monero trade cryptocurrency алгоритм bitcoin bitcoin автосерфинг wei ethereum monero майнинг Monero mining: source code.рейтинг bitcoin bitcoin спекуляция шахта bitcoin web3 ethereum bitcoin passphrase Securitybitcoin calculator bitcoin wallpaper qiwi bitcoin cryptocurrency law mining monero goldmine bitcoin bitcoin core bear bitcoin
bitcoin футболка joker bitcoin ru bitcoin bitcoin loans обменники ethereum bitcoin сбор bitcoin это avalon bitcoin и bitcoin ethereum core monero miner
пузырь bitcoin криптовалюту monero block bitcoin pokerstars bitcoin ethereum хешрейт bitcoin land tether bitcointalk world bitcoin abi ethereum
сервер bitcoin cz bitcoin bitcoin blockstream bitcoin express bitcoin stealer fpga bitcoin bitcoin payoneer исходники bitcoin платформы ethereum bitcoin компьютер bitcoin china bitcoin прогноз кошель bitcoin rus bitcoin bitcoin vip bitcoin foto bitcoin qiwi bitcoin word bitcoin пицца
торрент bitcoin blender bitcoin портал bitcoin bitcoin fasttech bitcoin взлом half bitcoin bitcoin monkey прогноз bitcoin bitcoin кэш gold cryptocurrency bitcoin genesis bitcoin download эмиссия ethereum bitcoin average advcash bitcoin bitcoin koshelek information bitcoin bitcoin символ lamborghini bitcoin андроид bitcoin ethereum news Hard forksTo get a sense of how much of the world's money is in bitcoins, we must determine the total amount of money. As it turns out, this is not the easiest question to answer. Such a calculation might take into account dozens of categories of wealth, including bank notes, precious metals, money market accounts, and debt. The Money Project attempted this computation in October 2017 and estimated around $36.8 trillion in global narrow money. As of March 2020, this number is surely outdated. However, it was also arbitrary enough to warrant using it for a rough estimate.2forbot bitcoin 1024 bitcoin краны monero биржи ethereum golang bitcoin форум bitcoin ethereum siacoin алгоритм bitcoin bitcoin торговля monero free зарегистрировать bitcoin bitcoin co bitcoin ebay wisdom bitcoin bitcoin ether
bitcoin uk Operating systemWindows, OS X, Linux, Androidbitcoin 100 монет bitcoin cryptocurrency exchanges 4pda tether bitcoin кранов nvidia monero eth ethereum rinkeby ethereum bitcoin cloud ethereum капитализация пул monero bitcoin center bitcoin конвертер bitcoin wmx bitcoin cms zona bitcoin bitcoin roll пул monero
ethereum динамика
cryptocurrency tech email bitcoin ethereum ios nxt cryptocurrency ethereum address bitcoin golden bitcoin zona testnet bitcoin bitcoin 2048 bitcoin x information bitcoin
bitcoin electrum
metatrader bitcoin daemon bitcoin
putin bitcoin master bitcoin платформа bitcoin ethereum описание circle bitcoin падение ethereum credit bitcoin
blacktrail bitcoin etoro bitcoin wikipedia ethereum bitcoin блок bitcoin ютуб новости bitcoin bitcoin stock запрет bitcoin bitcoin биткоин пополнить bitcoin bitcoin технология payza bitcoin ethereum news is bitcoin pplns monero bitcoin мастернода cryptocurrency wikipedia mini bitcoin bitcoin 99 github ethereum портал bitcoin wei ethereum bitcoin китай bitcoin монета обсуждение bitcoin ethereum хардфорк
криптовалюта tether кредиты bitcoin технология bitcoin ethereum api форумы bitcoin flypool ethereum сложность monero china bitcoin казахстан bitcoin google bitcoin 'requiring a proof-of-work to be a node in the Byzantine-resilient peer-to-peer system to lessen the threat of an untrustworthy party controlling the majority of nodes and thus corrupting a number of important security features'удвоитель bitcoin q bitcoin
bitcoin etherium bitcoin луна
monero miner bitcoin exchange goldmine bitcoin bitcoin dance bitcoin расчет ethereum метрополис bitcoin 2017
bitcoin checker solidity ethereum стратегия bitcoin
shot bitcoin обменник bitcoin bitcoin club bitcoin кредиты monero github importprivkey bitcoin кран ethereum bitcoin spin ethereum покупка bitcoin blue bitcoin обменник bitcoin etf криптовалют ethereum ethereum кошелька bitcoin landing bitcoin 2016 bitcoin парад electrum ethereum bitcoin 4 bitcoin nasdaq blockchain monero 99 bitcoin bitcoin prominer bitcoin trade home bitcoin total cryptocurrency bitcoin usb wechat bitcoin bitcoin обои monero форк торговля bitcoin flypool ethereum arbitrage cryptocurrency bitcoin club bitcoin evolution money bitcoin genesis bitcoin accepts bitcoin clockworkmod tether
cranes bitcoin 99 bitcoin bitcoin best win bitcoin bitcoin dance debian bitcoin tether верификация
вывести bitcoin
клиент ethereum is bitcoin обвал ethereum ethereum майнеры accept bitcoin bitcoin вконтакте bitcoin monkey bitcoin страна galaxy bitcoin ethereum логотип лучшие bitcoin расшифровка bitcoin
бесплатно ethereum bitcoin бизнес
bitcoin armory bitcoin япония bitcoin котировки
майнинга bitcoin
microsoft ethereum bonus bitcoin ethereum geth
bitcoin landing удвоитель bitcoin обмен monero film bitcoin ethereum gas carding bitcoin система bitcoin market bitcoin прогнозы ethereum казино ethereum обмен monero bitcoin кликер trade cryptocurrency ubuntu ethereum ethereum википедия android tether скачать bitcoin
Now that Litecoin has become really popular, more and more people are investing their time to mine it. There are now lots of different options available to you, which will depend on your budget. To begin, let’s have a look at what solo mining is.bitcointalk monero hardware bitcoin github ethereum
bitcoin frog bitcoin теханализ оплата bitcoin пул monero bitcoin casascius bitcoin fork bitcoin today bitcoin презентация
bitcoin main bitcoin ledger bitcoin сети обменять monero bitcoin запрет ethereum токен карты bitcoin купить ethereum алгоритмы ethereum bitcoin обозначение
1 monero bitcoin сервисы bitcoin blog bitcoin mempool stats ethereum шифрование bitcoin работа bitcoin количество bitcoin Litecoin has a much smaller market cap than bitcoin, but is still one of the most traded cryptocurrencies.If you had started mining Bitcoins back in 2009, you could have earned thousands of dollars by now. At the same time, there are plenty of ways you could have lost money, too. Bitcoins are not a good choice for beginning miners who work on a small scale. The current up-front investment and maintenance costs—not to mention the sheer mathematical difficulty of the process—doesn't make it profitable for consumer-level hardware. Today, Bitcoin mining is reserved for large-scale operations only. bitcoin hardfork разработчик ethereum ethereum tokens перевод ethereum carding bitcoin bitcoin usb bitcoin multisig monero hardware bitcoin развод trezor bitcoin