Key facts:
Satoshi Nakamoto thought of Bitcoin as an electronic cash system of equals.
Some envision that bitcoin will be introduced to the masses by banks and institutions.
Throughout the 12-year life of bitcoin (BTC), the relationship that commercial banks had with the first cryptocurrency experienced a slow but definite change of course. It went from absolute rejection to a growing and progressive acceptance and, in some cases, incorporation of this product.
Because of this, bitcoiners, who initially hoped that the creation of Satoshi Nakamoto would bring about the downfall of the global banking system, also had to change their narrative and seek new answers to the question what should bitcoin become?
Gone are the days when bankers protested bitcoin and demanded its ban. Even the domain of the website that represented them, bankersagainstbitcoin.org, was taken down due to lack of interest in renewing it. Interestingly, someone recently bought it back via Namecheap, a name registrar that accepts payments in BTC.
Recent news, such as, for example, the announcement of the BBVA bank that incorporated the bitcoin custody and sale service, were unthinkable until just a couple of years ago. Also JP Morgan, a financial institution that for a long time opposed cryptocurrency, now considers it a good investment that could displace gold as an alternative safe-haven asset.
Bitcoin will do to banks what Netflix did to Blockbuster, they used to say. But the worlds bankers, regulators and governments were cunning. They knew how to apply accurately the popular saying if you cant fight them, join them. They understood that regulating is more effective than prohibiting, in an attempt to neutralize the strength of bitcoin.
From a good part of the commercial financial sector, bitcoin is currently considered as another asset, stripped of all revolutionary epics. Some banks are beginning to offer it within their products, financial advisers such as Kevin Grimes recommend having even a small part of your personal portfolio in bitcoin, and investors try to predict whether its price will rise or fall, to open or close your trading positions.
Bitcoin will be introduced to the masses by banks and institutions, said engineer Anbal Santaella during his participation in the BlockDown LATAM 2020 conference, last November.
Recognized bitcoiners accept that this is happening. In a Twitter thread he posted in 2018, Italian developer Giacomo Zucco outlined the paradigm shift on the part of banks and had predicted that, In 2020, it would be the same financial institutions that would offer bitcoin. The examples seen show that Zucco was not wrong.
Banks will say in 2020: Ok, they were right 2 years ago. We want to become bitcoin exchanges and eat that market now.
Giacomo Zucco, founder of BlockchainLab, April 25, 2018.
And the bitcoiners? What are you currently waiting for? Few people would dare to say that Bitcoin will wipe out the traditional banking system. Instead, more and more people are presenting Satoshi Nakamotos creation as a better alternative to gold as a safe haven asset against fiat money, that is to say, the one that is emitted by the States, like the dollar or the euro.
The non-specialized press begins to wonder if Bitcoin could replace gold as the worlds store of value. Some non-bitcoin entrepreneurs openly admit that the properties of the cryptocurrency make it more useful than gold for this function. At the same time, many dare to question the reign of the dollar.
Within bitcoin circles, the narrative of bitcoin as a store of value also strengthens and it is complemented by the conviction that it is not only the best store of value, but it is also a currency whose characteristics and benefits make it better than state money. Its decentralization, its deflationary characteristics, its resistance to censorship and the privacy it grants are often mentioned here.
The narrative of bitcoin as a store of value and as a currency superior to fiat money expands. Source: MasterTux / pixabay.com
People in countries with a highly inflationary economy, such as Argentina or Venezuela, already found in bitcoin a way to preserve their wealth. Bitcoin is open and anyone can use it, even despite government restrictions that may exist in some jurisdictions.
It is enough to look at the graph of the valuation of bitcoin throughout its history and compare it with the fall in the purchasing power of the dollar, one of the hardest currencies in the world, to realize that the cryptoactive is, in the medium and long term, a better store of value, perhaps the best known so far.
In the last decade, BTC has gained 11,000,000% more value against the dollar. The inorganic issuance of dollars by the Federal Reserve and the confidence that the creation of Satoshi Nakamoto gains day by day are causes that complement each other to make the cryptocurrency become stronger.
Today, a dollar is worth 2,679 satoshis. Source: usdsat.com
The arrival of state investments to Bitcoin it may be the definitive step for the crypto asset to permanently dethrone gold and stronger fiat currencies as dominant stores of value.
Today we see glimpses of this that, years ago, was unthinkable. For now they are isolated cases, like the mayor of Miami, who wants to put part of the citys treasury in Bitcoin; or like the Bitcoin Hodl Act, a proposal that seeks that the US government keep the BTC that it confiscates.
Of course, before States officially incorporate BTC into their reserves, they can wait new laws, stricter regulations, and greater control over movements on the blockchain.
Perhaps recent legislative advances, such as the one aimed at identifying self-custodial wallets for exchange users in the United States (recently paused by the Biden administration), are preparing the foundations for this new scenario.
Just as the narrative changed, the next step for each bitcoiner will be to see what position to take in the face of the new scenario that is looming.
One option could be adapt to the requirements of the new normal. This possibly includes accepting that the transactions be registered by a state body, using identified addresses and fulfilling previously non-existent requirements (for example, being over a certain age).
Another option is to go back to the origins. Satoshi Nakamoto, in the Bitcoin whitepaper, defined its creation as an electronic cash system of equals and thought of it in such a way that it does not require intermediaries or state authorization of any kind. Since about 2017, problems with network scalability have made this way of use relegated to the background until now.
Satoshi Nakamoto thought of Bitcoin as an electronic cash system of equals. Source: geralt / pixabay.com
Second-layer solutions like the Lightning network could lead to Bitcoin taking off again as a payment method. This is complemented by developments such as Taproot that will favor user privacy by reducing the amount of information registered on the blockchain.
In a world in which the links in the commercial chain decided trade bitcoin, the passage through fiat currency would be unnecessary when spending the BTC and the vision of Satoshi Nakamoto would be a reality: a system of cash between equals.
Some will dream that these transactions are mainly carried out outside the scope of the law, making institutions of the traditional financial system become expendable and eventually disappear.
I am skeptical that such a situation will arise. Instead, the coexistence of both worlds, that is, the use of bitcoin in a regulated way and also its discreet use, is probably a more realistic scenario. After all, this is exactly what happens today with cash And, as said, according to its creator, this is what bitcoin is meant to be.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to its author and do not necessarily reflect those of CriptoNoticias.
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