We all know that last month, JPMorgan Chase's, Chief Executive, Jamie Dimon said publically that "bitcoin is a fraud and will blow up". Well now UBS chairman, Axel Weber, has hopped on the bitcoin bashing bandwagon and said at a Swiss Finance Institute conference...
“I get often asked why I‘m so sceptical about bitcoin, it probably comes from my background as a central banker,”
Now I am not quite sure that you, Mr Weber, being a central banker automatically means that people should be sceptical of bitcoin. It is not even remotely close to a valid reason. However, please go on...
“The important function of a currency is, it’s a means of payment, it has to be generally accepted, it has to be a store of value and it’s a transaction currency. Bitcoin is only a transaction currency.”
Ok so let's break this down.
WordPress.com – An online company that allows user to create free blogs
Overstock.com – A company that sells big ticket items at lower prices due to overstocking
Subway – Eat fresh
Microsoft – Users can buy content with Bitcoin on Xbox and Windows store
Reddit – You can buy premium features there with bitcoins
Virgin Galactic – Richard Branson company that includes Virgin Mobile and Virgin Airline
OkCupid – Online dating site
Tigerdirect – Major electronic online retailer
Namecheap – Domain name registrar
CheapAir.com – Travel booking site for airline tickets, car rentals, hotels
Expedia.com – Online travel booking agency
Gyft – Buy giftcards using Bitcoin
Newegg.com – Online electronics retailer now uses bitpay to accept bitcoin as payment
Dell – American privately owned multinational computer technology company
Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia with 4 570 000+ article
Steam – Desktop gaming platform
Alza – Largest Czech online retailer
The Internet Archive – web documatation company
Bitcoin.Travel – a travel site that provides accommodation, apartments, attractions, bars, and beauty salons around the world
Pembury Tavern – A pub in London, England
Old Fitzroy – A pub in Sydney, Australia
The Pink Cow – A diner in Tokyo, Japan
The Pirate Bay – BitTorrent directories
Zynga – Mobile gaming
4Chan.org – For premium services
EZTV – Torrents TV shows provider
Mega.co.nz – The new venture started by the former owner of MegaUpload Kim Dotcom
Lumfile – Free cloud base file server – pay for premium services
Etsy Vendors – 93 of them
PizzaForCoins.com – Domino’s Pizza signed up – pay for their pizza with bitcons
Whole Foods – Organic food store (by purchasing gift card from Gyft)
Bitcoincoffee.com – Buy your favorite coffee online
Grass Hill Alpacas – A local farm in Haydenville, MA
Jeffersons Store – A street wear clothing store in Bergenfield, N.J
Helen’s Pizza – Jersey City, N.J., you can get a slice of pizza for 0.00339 bitcoin by pointing your phone at a sign next to the cash register
A Class Limousine – Pick you up and drop you off at Newark (N.J.) Airport
Seoclerks.com – Get SEO work done on your site cheap
Mint.com – Mint pulls all your financial accounts into one place. Set a budget, track your goals and do more
Fancy.com – Discover amazing stuff, collect the things you love, buy it all in one place (Source: Fancy)
Bloomberg.com – Online newspaper
Humblebundle.com – Indie game site
BigFishGames.com – Games for PC, Mac and Smartphones (iPhone, Android, Windows)
Suntimes.com – Chicago based online newspaper
San Jose Earthquakes – San Jose California Professional Soccer Team (MLS)
Square – Payment processor that help small businesses accept credit cards using iPhone, Android or iPad
Crowdtilt.com – The fastest and easiest way to pool funds with family and friends (Source: crowdtilt)
Lumfile – Server company that offers free cloud-based servers
Museum of the Coastal Bend – 2200 East Red River Street, Victoria, Texas 77901, USA
Gap, GameStop and JC Penney – have to use eGifter.com
Etsy Vendors – Original art and Jewelry creations
Fight for the Future – Leading organization finding for Internet freedom
i-Pmart (ipmart.com.my) – A Malaysian online mobile phone and electronic parts retailer
curryupnow.com – A total of 12 restaurants on the list of restaurants accept bitcoins in San Francisco Bay Area
Dish Network – An American direct-broadcast satellite service provider
The Libertarian Party – United States political party
Yacht-base.com – Croatian yacht charter company
Euro Pacific – A major precious metal dealer
CEX – The trade-in chain has a shop in Glasgow, Scotland that accepts bitcoin
Straub Auto Repairs – 477 Warburton Ave, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706 – (914) 478-1177
PSP Mollie – Dutch Payment Service
Intuit – an American software company that develops financial and tax preparation software and related services for small businesses, accountants and individuals.
ShopJoy – An Australian online retailer that sells novelty and unique gifts
Lv.net – Las Vegas high speed internet services
ExpressVPN.com – High speed, ultra secure VPN network
Grooveshark – Online music streaming service based in the United States
Braintree – Well known payments processor
MIT Coop Store – Massachusetts Institute of Technology student bookstore
SimplePay – Nigeria’s most popular web and mobile-based wallet service
SFU bookstore – Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada
State Republican Party – First State Republican Party to accept bitcoin donations
mspinc.com – Respiratory medical equipment supplies store
Shopify.com – An online store that allows anyone to sell their products
Famsa – Mexico’s biggest retailer
Naughty America – Adult entertainment provider
Mexico’s Universidad de las Américas Puebla – A major university in Mexico
LOT Polish Airlines – A worldwide airline based in Poland
MovieTickets.com – Online movie ticket exchange/retailer
Dream Lover – Online relationship service
Lionsgate Films – The production studio behind titles such as The Hunger Games and The Day After Tomorrow
Rakutan – A Japanese e-commerce giant
Badoo – Online dating network
RE/MAX London – UK-based franchisee of the global real estate network
T-Mobile Poland – T-Mobile’s Poland-based mobile phone top-up company
Stripe – San Francisco-based payments company
WebJet – Online travel agency
Green Man Gaming – Popular digital game reseller
Save the Children – Global charity organization
NCR Silver – Point of sales systems
One Shot Hotels – Spanish hotel chain
Coupa Café in Palo Alto
PureVPN – VPN provider
That’s my face – create action figures
Foodler – North American restaurant delivery company
Amagi Metals – Precious metal furnisher
It is becomming "generally accepted", so much so, that earlier this year Japan accepted Bitcoin as a legal payment method. Midori Kanemitsu, chief financial officer of bitFlyer explained that the number of retail stores accepting bitcoin “is expected to rise to 300,000 or so in 2017.”
What is a store of value?
A store of value is the function of an asset that can be saved, retrieved and exchanged at a later time, and be predictably useful when retrieved. More generally, a store of value is anything that retains purchasing power into the future.
Now this is where Mr Weber, in my honest opinion, is intentionally misleading the public by confusing volatility with terms such as "store of value" and transactional currency. Sure, short-term, bitcoin has been unstable but over the long term it is, arguably, the most stable store of value in history.
