When there is an
opportunity to make a quick buck, everyone becomes an experienced investor.
These days, everyone has an opinion about where to invest your money. But
that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re right. Investing is becoming a game not
everyone can play. Information has become so abundant and widely available in
today’s world that investors’ judgement can often become clouded. But
sometimes, a hyped investment can actually be worthwhile. I like to call these
investments “hidden gems.” They always have the potential of providing a good
return but just need a little push from the general public to facilitate
momentum. BitCoin certainly fell under this label in its early years. Now, the
company has become a household name. From its inception, people were trying to
make money out of the currency service. As a result, the price of one coin has
been rampantly fluctuating. From being worth almost nothing to a staggering $1,500
at the end of the year, it is safe to say that BitCoin has come a long way.
Nowadays, the price is hovering around $400. Discouraging to some, seeing as it
was more than double that just last year. But while some remain wary of the
service, others are taking a more unorthodox approach. Usually when the value
of an entity does down, it is a bad idea to invest in it. Right? Not with
BitCoin it seems. This currency mogul is a gem of its own. Here is why
investors might want to look at Bitcoin:
Progress and Potential
In the business
world, reputation is everything. Once a company name has been tarnished, its
reputability is difficult to re-establish. BitCoin has had its share of “a
tarnished name.” The company was once known for its underground trading due its
low trading costs. It also had very little regulations substantiating its
decentralized network. Some were so bold as to refer to the company as being
primed for money laundering. Not exactly the label you want to be associated
with. So why are investors looking at it now? Ironically the very factor that
tarnished its name is the same contributing factor that is causing business to
adapt to the service: low transaction costs. Many businesses and individuals
have embraced the concept of BitCoin because of its minimum transaction costs.
In fact, there is even an island that is preparing to grant inhabitants
BitCoins. This is causing many to invest in companies that are using crypto
currencies like BitCoin. Much of the BitCoin operating today is linked to
businesses. A wider acceptance of the service by businesses is a good indicator
of a stable service. While the idea of BitCoin being substituted for currency
altogether is inconceivable in the immediate future, the company certainly has
a lot of potential. For instance, it may not be too farfetched to say that
BitCoin will be a good medium for Internet sales in the near future. Companies
like BitPay are already offering various solutions to businesses that can
enable them to accept BitCoin as a means of payment. According to Cryptocoin
News, Jumio and Alternet are two prime examples of companies that working on
facial recognition ID systems that help protect the safety of BitCoin
transactions.
But you don’t have
to take the word of virtual currency enthusiasts. According to the Wall Street Journal, financier and
author James Rickards claims there is potential in a technology that processes
faster, cheaper and more transactions. “Companies using these new technologies
allow consumers to buy products or to send payments in seconds at a fraction of
the cost of regular currency.”
The words of Mr.
Rickards are on point. A wide level of acceptance is precisely what BitCoin
requires at this stage. Fortunately, the company is always one step ahead of
the game. Just today, BitCoin has introduced a new bank concept called
“Circle.” This is not merely a wallet type system that is used to store your
virtual currency. Far from it. The sheer capital used for the development of
this project was about $25 million. With Circle, users can now transfer cash
using a bank account or a debit card, which is then converted into BitCoin
using the Circle protocol.
Circle has
revolutionized the way in which the general public will look at BitCoin. This
is because the service has eradicated the risk factor involved due to the
previous lack of regulations. To start, every user’s deposits are fully
insured. There is also a new design that has been given to the interface of the
service. This appeals to those who are tired of using the same conventional Internet
banking as before.
Accessibility is
becoming a very strong advantage for BitCoin. Anyone can enroll in the Circle
service. The founder of Circle, Jeremey Allaire, promises a very basic security
set-up and verification system. “Once security has been set up, they really
have a cloud wallet: a service where they can send, receive and store Bitcoin
very easily with a very simple interface in their own language. The benefit is
going to be for people who want to use an online service, and don’t want to
worry about managing and securing private keys, and so forth. They can store as
much as they want, there’s no fees, and it includes all the offline storage we
provide as well as full insurance on all deposits,” said Mr. Allaire.
Accessibility,
wider acceptance and potential are what investors should be concentrating on
when thinking of investing in BitCoin. It may not be the traditional “gold”
standard of safe investments but it offers potential in many outlets.
Disclaimer: This article was posted with the
permission of a third-party contributor and the opinions contained therein
do not necessarily reflect those of Smallcappower. Smallcappower does not
endorse any investment advice provided by these third-party contributors.
Please consult
your investment advisor before making any investment
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Communication and Ubika Research are not registered with any financial or
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