Are the cryptocurrencies now ready for prime time ? Bitcoin has made significant price gains and market capitalization growth in the last month ($450 to $750). Many factors are attributed to the rise (Brexit, China miners pre-empting the halving in a few months among others) but to what extent is the rise due to a rising mass confidence and main-streaming of the virtual / digital currency phenomenon. Bitcoin, for instance, was forever tainted with an 'underworld' aura. The truth is, however, that currencies, of whatever form, will always be used by the underworld. All fiat currencies are currently used by the underworld for their various nefarious deeds. Is bitcoin now here to stay ? Are digital currencies now mainstreamed and acceptable ? Is the newer rival, Ethereum, poised to supplant Bitcoin ? What attracts major blue chip entities, Samsung, Microsoft, JP Morgan to endorse Ethereum ? Is the secret sauce really the blockchain ledger and not the bitcoin itself ? How will central banks treat with these virtual currencies ? As we zip with hyperspeed into the future, don't we really expect that hardcopy papers notes and coins will largely disappear ?
Hi,
It just depends what you refer to as "prime time" (though this is to a large extent covered by the number of questions you have asked next ;-) ). The fact that a crypto-currency is ready for the news prime time does not really mean that its ready to take-over existing paper or electronic money. If you just look into one of the available indices for number of transactions that go through bitcoin it is evident that there is still a very long way to go before it rivals existing system in practical way.
Best regards,
Stan
Not really. They are less regulated, unsupervised & highly risky.
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