When it comes to cryptocurrencies, they are undoubtedly some of the hottest commodities in the world at the present moment. Whether it’s mainstream news publications or your buddy’s Facebook timeline, it seems that almost everyone has heard of them. Because of this massive spike in their popularity, it’s also natural that people are beginning to invest in them as legitimate assets. Rather than treating them as hobbies or play-money, people are beginning to put a lot on the line as they ratchet up in terms of their legitimacy and their popularity. But given this rise in popularity, since 2009, Bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency in the market, has shot up in value and expanded rapidly in terms of its market capitalization. Given this surge in value and investors, are cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin just a standalone fad, or are they a legitimately valuable asset that is going to be here for the long haul?

Bitcoin: The “Gold” Standard

 

What Makes Bitcoin so unique is the fact that it relies on a constantly randomizing blockchain technology that uses peer-to-peer networks to issue and circulate the currency. This makes Bitcoin valuable to those seeking anonymous, decentralized ways of sending and receiving money, hence, it has skyrocketed in value since its inception back in 2009. Bitcoin came to the scene as the first-ever cryptocurrency, making it incredibly valuable to anyone that planned to used it for whatever purpose, whether it was storing money anonymously or buying goods or services that someone would otherwise prefer to be anonymous as well.

This made Bitcoin attractive due to the fact that governments and private interests couldn’t track it, but it could also be used as a storer of value in a digital realm, which makes it easy to move around large amounts of money, rather than having to smuggle physical cash like the old-fashioned days. With this increased level of scrutiny, it means that a lot of governments because looking at Bitcoin as a serious threat not only to their ability to track illegal and illicit transactions, but it opened an entirely new door as far as criminal enterprises being able to move large amounts of funds very quickly.

Acceptance, Alternatives, and a Bright Future

However, since the scrutiny phase of Bitcoin, many people have realized that legitimate cryptocurrencies will have tremendous utilitarian purposes going into the future. Other coins like Ripple and others have sprung up to help maximize the way banks, financial institutions, and even computer programs send data, meaning that cryptos (as they are affectionately called) will soon be the way we move and transfer money going into the ensuing decades. And whether or not Bitcoin will be around remain to be seen, but there is no doubt that there is a tremendous surge in interest for them as investment options, and a lot of entities, both government and private, are similarly interested as well. Someone interested in cryptos as investments should certainly give them a look, but as with any investment, be sure to do your due diligence before taking any sort of financial risk