In any given year across, at least in the last half a decade, if you compiled a word cloud from the words used in all of the news stories of that year the likelihood is that “Bitcoin” would appear in quite large, bold letters. It’s a topic that draws strong opinions both pro and anti, and whatever happens to the market, there are those on both sides who will hail that development as a confirmation of everything they already thought. And that makes Bitcoin a very hard topic to fully and deeply understand.
The chances are that, in years to come, we will all be using cryptocurrencies more than we currently do, and yet there is limited information out there to prepare us all for such a future. Just as you think you have fully understood and have picked a “side” in the debate, more news and more analysis emerge that causes you to pause and reconsider. Below, we’ll go some way to explaining why this state of affairs is likely to persist for at least a while – and what might bring some eventual consensus and wider understanding.
Bitcoin’s price is driven entirely by opinion
We’ve all heard plenty about “market sentiment” over the years. It plays as much of a part in the cycles of boom and bust as just about any other factor; even when economic conditions are broadly optimistic, it means very little if people aren’t confident in spending their money. But in the case of fiat currency, there are at least other factors governing the value of money. Where cryptocurrency is concerned, a market can see big rises and falls based entirely on the tweets of Elon Musk. For the most part, market sentiment is the only thing driving the price of Bitcoin – which means that when it falls, it falls hard.
Everyone knows the value of the currency in their pocket
American consumers know what a dollar is because they use it to buy milk and bread. The same goes for UK consumers and their pounds, and Indian customers with their rupee. Cryptocurrencies aren’t commonly used for consumer purchases, so offering people the chance to own 0.0007BTC means little to the average consumer. (It’s about $14.36, or just short of 1119 rupee). While this isn’t particularly meaningful in and of itself – how many of us even know without Google what the currency is in Serbia, for example? – being able to judge a currency against what it buys does help to give it some permanence.
Bitcoin certainly has a place
On balance, there is a certain amount of turmoil in the world at the moment, and the likely direction of travel is that that will continue for the foreseeable future. This is likely to play out in currency markets and affect economies. So there is something to be said for a currency that has the same value everywhere, and doesn’t require the involvement of banks. This is what makes crypto casinos a popular choice on casinogenie.org and is also why it is used in countries with limited banking infrastructure like El Salvador. It also makes it a popular means of transferring wealth into and out of countries with oppressive regimes, as we’ve seen in Ukraine and Syria among others.
Until it’s given a wider focus, we’ll remain unsure
At the moment it is very difficult to find an unbiased source explaining what the positive and negative aspects of Bitcoin are. While two particularly engaged sides of the debate address their criticisms to one another, neither side is doing much to explain it to the people in the middle. And given that, as we have already noted, cryptocurrencies gain their value from market sentiment, it’s not helpful to have a large contingent of people who simply don’t know what to think – or know enough to have any thoughts on the market at all. Some more informed thinking might develop as governments begin to regulate crypto more, but that could be a while away.
So the overall message, for now, is that Bitcoin, and cryptos in general, are going to be dividing opinion for some time to come. And it’s anyone’s guess whose arguments will win out.
Do you think the Bitcoin market is unpredictable?
