Bitcoin’s real story isn’t the rampant speculation, but its untold potential
This $1 million house is the first to be sold on the blockchain in the U.S. – https://t.co/IQHDx0YVBv #crypto #finance #news
— CryptoNewswire (@CryptoNewswire) December 29, 2017
KFC accepts Bitcoin in Canada now: https://t.co/OB3bgWCH7E pic.twitter.com/5mlMEX8v7P
— Motherboard (@motherboard) January 15, 2018
But unless the bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies of the world achieve the trustworthy, rocklike stability that the U.S. dollar or the British pound once did under a gold standard, they will remain purely speculative vehicles.
The really exciting aspect about cryptocurrencies is their technology for verifying and recording transactions. The development of this so-called blockchain technology will soon enough obliterate the way that payments are processed today by banks and credit card companies. It will do to these businesses what the internet did to traditional print magazines and newspapers.
You are talking here about the “creative destruction” of hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate assets, not to mention wiping out perhaps trillions of dollars in equity values. By contrast, the savings and unimaginable conveniences for consumers and nonbank companies will be immense, a huge stimulus to economic growth. This is the real bitcoin story, not the idiotic speculation dominating the news today.
Steve Forbes is chairman and editor in chief of Forbes Media.
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