It’s time. With 9 years of demonstrated success in seurely tokenizing value, bitcoin is ready for mainstream. Microsoft and other major players are embarking on an ambitious drive to expand crypto offerings globally. The increadible feat that has brought the leading cryptocurrency to this place should not be underestimated. Without the backing of a state, entity, or central authority to ward off an unrelenting wrath of negative sentiment, the experimental digital currency has weathered assaults with astonishing resilience. So what’s next? Ramping up utility, will play a growing role in the future success of bitcoin and other leading cryptocurrencies.
Recent announcements by New York Stock Exchange parent – Intercontinental Exchange – that it will be launching a regulated market for bitcoin before the end of 2018, coupled with the disclosure that other major partners such as Microsoft and Starbucks will be joining in the effort to bring bitcoin to the mainstream, is welcoming news for the cryptoasset. Fortune has reported that the campaign running under the banner Bakkt, will set the stage for: the acceptance of bitcoin globally, the inclusion of bitcoin in 401(k), and cracking the $25 trillion annual online payments market that is currently dominated by high credit card and other transaction costs. Shifting these transactions to bitcoin’s lower fee network, will reduce friction in online transactions while adding to the security of bitcoin’s network as fees are redirected to miners who provide the network-securing function.
Bitcoin purists are already weighing in, according to the Fortune article; denouncing the role of a major profit-taking intermediary as counter to bitcoin’s raison d’être. The offering of bitcoin as an investment vehicle may be a departure from the original frictionless peer-to-peer payment system proposed by its creator, but does it deminish the utility of the latter? New use cases for bitcoin may actually complement peer-to-peer payments – particularly if those use cases lead to conditions that promote transactions, as opposed to hodling (holding on for dear life); a phenomenon driven in large part by wild speculation. In the absence of a price moderating stimulous – speculation-driven volatility is harming the original mission of bitcoin. Institutional investment has been, and will continue to tame volatility. I am optimistically viewing this glass as half full.