Bitcoin has passed the time test. Buying bitcoins today is much less risky than 10 years ago, 5 years and even 1 year.
In short
- Bitcoin has become an active ingredient for major companies such as Microstrategy and Tesla, with growing support for financial institutions and states, such as the United States which plan to make it a reserve currency.
- The approval of the Bitcoin ETF, the entry of large banks in the sector, the development of user -friendly applications and a network secured by a hashrate of 800 exams make the purchase and storage of bitcoins simpler and safer than ten years ago.
- Faced with global inflation, monetary devaluations and geopolitical tensions, Bitcoin stands out as a reserve of value and stateless currency, even attracting certain governments.
- Lightning Network has resolved the limits of transaction flow, but bitcoin is mainly recognized as a reserve of value rather than a means of payment. Its ecological impact is being completely re -evaluated positively, while fears of prohibition fade in favor of debates on taxation.
Some were fortunate to get bitcoins for a handful of figs, but apart from a few cypherpunks, very few kept them. Was a time when you could go to a website to get 5 BTC for free And where we bought pizzas for several thousand BTCs.
Millions of BTCs were lost because no one really believed in it. Placing all of his savings there was considered irresponsible right. Ten years later, this is no longer true.
1 – Increased adoption and institutional support
Bitcoin is part of the cash flow hundreds of institutional as Microstrategy, Tesla, Block.one, Tether, SpaceX or The Blockchain Group In France.
There is no longer a week without a large group to announce Bitcoin its main treasury active. It was the Chinese textile firm Addnotax (8,000 BTC) this week, and Twenty One Capital The previous week (42,000 BTC). Soon Amazon ? …
Soon, all the big banks will accept Bitcoin in collateral (Goldman Sachs reflects on it). Twenty One Capital will be the first serious company to offer loans collateralized by BTCs. The proposed rate (12 %) is spicy, but will drop thanks to competition.
The states are also there, not the least. Donald Trump’s government clearly wants to bitcoin reserve currency in the United States, as a recent estimate of Morgan Stanley points out. Senator Cynthia Lummis even offers to sell gold to accumulate it.
Overall, it is estimated that exchange platforms have collectively between 100 and 200 million active customers. These are all potential voters to satisfy … and by the way, 50 million Bitcoin addresses have a higher balance, which suggests a maximum of 50 million “hodlers” (probably ~ 15 million people).
2 – Accessibility and safety
The approval of the Bitcoin ETF in the United States last year was a turning point. More than $ 41 billion were invested via BlackRock, Fidelity and others.
The regulatory appeasement instilled by the new American government suggests that large banks like Bny Mellon, State Street and Citi will enter dance in the coming months. Us Bank (the fifth retail bank) or Revolut already have Bitcoins on behalf of their customers.
Buying and storing your bitcoins is no longer as complex and risky. While a million BTC were hacked between 2009 and 2020, only 4,500 BTCs have been so for 2020. $ 450 million, compared with $ 130 billion in bank card fraud.
It is now childish to buy bitcoins via friendly and safe applications. Not to mention the myriad of wallet hardware to take possession of your bitcoins (Trezor, Ledger, Safepal, etc.).
The Bitcoin network is also much safer than ten years ago thanks to the increase in “hashrate”. We are 800 billion billion in the seconds per second (800,000,000,000,000 h/s).
Reaching 800 EH/S would require making 4 million S21 antiminers and investing $ 12 billion. Clearly, the probability that a state takes control of the network in order to undermine its growth has become tiny.
This computing power ensures real decentralization and consolidates the long -term investment thesis.
3 – Geopolitical and economic contexts
The global economic landscape has changed since 2015. The 25 % inflation of the last five years have severely planed purchasing power. It was for many the first experience of high inflation after 30 years of controlled inflation, around 2 % per year.
Some countries have experienced much more dramatic inflation rates. In particular Turkey (750 %), Argentina (2,500 %) or Venezuela (1,000,000 %in 2023).
It is therefore natural that Bitcoin is more and more interest as a cover in the face of the depreciation of national currencies. The CEO of Blackrock did not go there by four paths in his Annual letter to investors ::
The United States has long benefited from the status of the dollar as a dominant world reserve currency. However, this privilege is not ensured in perpetuity. If the United States fails to control its debt and let its deficits grow uncontrolled, bitcoin could delight its status of international reserve currency.
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock
Add geopolitical tensions to economic difficulties and it is not very surprising that a stateless and non -censurable currency as Bitcoin is doing well.
Taiwan, a country that risks big in the event of climbing Sino-American tensions, understood this. The Taiwanese deputy Ko Ju-Chun recently pleaded for the addition of bitcoin to the country's exchange reserves.
His main argument was that “Bitcoin cannot be subjected to a blockade/embargo [chinois] »». It is the great fear of the island which would then see its currency collapse on the exchange market.
Our article on the subject: Bitcoin would avoid ruin in Taiwan in the event of Chinese embargo.
4 – Many strangers have found an answer
One of the major unknowns in 2015 was whether Bitcoin could increase its transaction rate (7 transactions / sec) without sacrificing its decentralization.
Since then, the development of Lightning Network (LN) has dissipated concerns. Bitcoin transactions flow is now theoretically unlimited. [Il faudrait toutefois que toutes les plateformes d’échange l’adoptent, ce qui n’est pas le cas faute de demande et de pertes pour les exchanges, notamment en frais de transaction.]
The low demand is that Bitcoin transactions (with LN) are not competitive against Visa and Mastercard. The reason being that the exchanges punctuate transaction costs when purchasing bitcoins.
Do not miss our article on the Lightning Network: This network that changes everything for Bitcoin.
The dominant current is today that Bitcoin does not need to replace national currencies to “succeed”. The key argument being that a complex company needs to create money ex nihilo to finance intensive capital infrastructure such as nuclear power plants, railways, etc.
This is called the “Fiat system”: banks lend money created ex nihilo which is destroyed during reimbursement. However, we cannot create bitcoins ex nihilo and that is its interest. Fiat currencies and bitcoin are not used the same goal.
It has also become very clear that Bitcoin is not the ecological disaster that we have been sold, quite the contrary. It will soon be an essential tool for adjusting by demand for electrical networks. Many very serious studies recognize this:
Finally, the spectrum of a ban on Chinese belongs definitively to the past. The subject is now to choose the right tax regime. For example, there is no capital gains tax in Germany, Portugal as well as in Czech Republic When you have your bitcoins for several years (without speculating).
Bitcoin should be treated as a currency and therefore not be taxed. This is the last border, which will surely be crossed by the American government.
Don't miss our article: Bitcoin: “the world monetary order is collapsing”.
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