Is bit coin is a scam??
Bitcoin the Idea
Ive read many articles about Bitcoin and I remember once reading that Cryptocurrency was the mother of all scams. Although many crypto scams are linked directly or indirectly to Bitcoin, I do not think that Bitcoin itself is a scam.
Bitcoin started off with a very interesting idea. The idea of peer-to-peer transactions without the need for a banking facility of some sort was very catchy. It also started off with very low transaction fees, anonymous, and everyone was in control of their own money, which sounded really great, and it was decentralised, which is highly arguable.
It was being advertised as the only option to increase your wealth over the long run due to the limited number of Bitcoins, compared to the normal currency we use every day which is only decreasing in value year after year, caused by printing and quantitive easing.
By the way, I do not believe this story of a guy called Satoshi Nakamoto who suddenly appeared and disappeared into thin air. I really believe that if they really wanted to find this guy they will, but the idea was very interesting; and the arguments that were presented are very strong.
Inflation, ever-growing debt, the world economy as we see it now, doesn’t seem like it’s going in the right way. Tweaking certain figures and numbers isn’t really going to solve the problem, in my opinion at least, it’s only going to kick the problem further down the line. How far? Only time can tell, but will countries be able to sustain so much debt and running costs, and for how long?
So the solution to the masses supposedly was cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, which appeared shortly after the 2008 crash.
What Happened?
The original idea of Bitcoin was and still is great, but sadly it has changed due to many factors. The decentralised point disappeared due the fact that large crypto currency mining companies controlled the fees which were rising as the demand increased for Bitcoin, and the difficulty increased in mining. Also as we saw a year ago, when they decided, they offloaded their Bitcoin in return for Bitcoin Cash (another crypto currency which is considered by many as the real Bitcoin) which caused the immediate drop in the price of Bitcoin and the price increase of Bitcoin Cash. Gone were the days were everyone could mine Bitcoin using a normal computer, hence came the idea of truly decentralised coins which everyone with a good graphics card could mine, which I don’t think many of them will survive to be honest, but this was another option.
The anonymous argument disappeared as well. Its either because they have changed it on their website bitcoin.org or its because people realised that this is not actually possible in todays technology. Hence new truly anonymous coins appeared which again Im not sure how possible that is. Im no programmer by the way, but I highly doubt this after what we saw with Bitcoin, and I don’t believe governments will allow this.
Many things put me off the idea of Bitcoin, another point that changed my opinion is the number of cryptocurrencies that suddenly appeared. As I am writing this post, according to coinmarketcap.com there are now 1,842 cryptocurrencies available for you to choose from. They are either actual coins which are mineable, or tokens. How many types of crypto currencies do you need? The idea suddenly became very popular for many to start issuing their own cryptocurrency for a quick buck. Some of the ideas are just so stupid and pointless, I really cannot believe how people would buy into. ICO’s appearing everyday and every week, and people are just buying into everything now just because they think they can sell it to someone else in a few weeks for 10 times as much.
The idea of Bitcoin was largely damaged by this alt coin craze in my opinion. Many of those coins don’t even have a working wallet you can depend on, and people are buying them on the hope of something being developed in the future. Some of them are depending on other third party companies to develop a wallet or add their coin to an existing wallet which supports many cryptocurrencies, which really raises the question what kind of developers are they?
Many of those coins will disappear in my opinion and the money as well sadly. Everyone with an idea of a startup business added the word BLOCKCHAIN to it and claimed that they will solve a certain problem using this new technology. It seemed to me that the new way to raise finance for any startup business at one point was no longer a bank loan, or a crowd funding platform, it was now the crypto currency world and ICO’s. Which I truly think was just a get rich scheme many of those founders are following; and the sad part is that people were and still are throwing their money at them and helping them in fulfilling their dream. THEY DON’T EVEN HAVE A WORKING PRODUCT !!!!
The other main point raised a flag for me is how the crypto currency exchanges reacted during the past year. When the price of Bitcoin was flying up and when the price of Bitcoin was tumbling down. Many exchanges caused chaos during this year, wether it was maintenance issues, not being able to sign it, exchange hacks and many other stories that shook the market during the past year, which was only sending alarming signals to the current and future Bitcoin enthusiasts. Which raised a very important question how safe is this investment on the long run?
The last point I wanted to share is the crazy growth in the price of Bitcoin which caused it to reach 20,000 USD and then tumble down to 5,900. Many accounts on twitter and other social networks argue that this was an inflated price and that their was no real proof of such amounts in the market cap claimed. Figures can be inflated and numbers can be created out of thin air especially if there is no regulation involved, and the crypto market can be easily rigged. If the Forex market can be rigged why not this one ? This one is much easier I think especially when its unregulated. This was very damaging to the whole idea of Bitcoin, and will be very difficult to get out of. Speaking of Forex, please do not think you can trade Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency on Forex, the margins are just crazy and now one really knows where this market is going. Read my post on Forex if you like.
So will Bitcoin survive ?
In conclusion, I think the idea of Bitcoin was a very interesting one and was not a scam, however, human nature, and certain technical aspects turned it into the scam many think it is.
Everyone thought they can become millionaires with Bitcoin, in a matter of months. If we do not see actual use of this cryptocurrency, it will not survive. For that we need an actual value that is much more stable that will increase in time. Increase in value of the currency will naturally happen with demand and actual use.
We need more shops, online shops and other service providers to accept the currency as a means of exchange. We need actual wallets which we can depend on, either on phones or computers, which the main cryptos already have.
Do not think you can buy bitcoin and sell it in a matter of days with profit. As a shop owner for example I do not want to accept a currency which I know will increase or decrease in value in a matter of minutes and substantially, I have a life and business to plan, and planning on something than can jump or drop hundreds of dollars in value in the next hour is not possible. Stay away from coins that appear every now and then, and stay away from coins that DO NOT HAVE A WORKING WALLET, and by working I mean constantly working, not something that would connect to a server one day and fail the next.
Stay within the top ten on the chart. Do not think of this as a get rich scheme. If you truly believe in the idea use it, and support who is using it. Don’t get scammed by the crazy price increase, which could very well be fake.
Bitcoin the idea was ruined by the miners and the large sums of money by traders which inflated the price quickly and then crashed the market wiping out accounts and wealth in days. Which makes me think, was that planned? It was also damaged by everyone else who joined thinking they can make a fortune, which lets be perfectly honest, is roughly 99 percent of those who bought. So lets not throw the blame on others, everyone was involved and everyone is the blame for what Bitcoin and cryptocurrency has become.
Im not here to tell you that this market will never rise again, Im not a fortune teller; or that which one is the real Bitcoin, or which cryptocurrency is a better one, or any of the arguments you hear everyday. I just wanted to say that Bitcoin has turned into a scam due to human nature. The tech and idea is interesting and until we see actual use everywhere of the currency, the scams will continue and the get rich ICO’s will remain. People tend to forget very quickly what happened in the past especially when they are sold the idea of big profits in a small amount of time.
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