Bitcoin: Gold or Agate Digital?

In a historical perspective, Bitcoin can be said to be a currency born as a form of protest. In his article entitled The Social Life of Bitcoin (2017), Nigel Dodd, Professor at the Department of Sociology, London School of Economics, explains two reasons that support this claim.

First, it is a digital currency not controlled by a bank but supported by a decentralized peer-to-peer technology. To that end, Bitcoin is seen as an alternative by people who are dissatisfied with the performance of financial institutions after the catastrophic economic crisis of 2008.

Secondly, Bitcoin is also born as a currency free from state intervention. Given that after 9/11, the state used the mainstream financial system for security reasons. This reason also makes Bitcoin associated as a currency that opens the door of drug or pornography transactions that are inconsistent with state regulations.

However, instead of being a substitute for the means of payment, Bitcoin actually becomes digital money that is traded as an investment asset. In The Economist's analysis, Bitcoin has now become a saved asset to wait for its value to rise. The owner would be lucky to sell Bitcoin for fiat money instead of using it as money to transact in consumption activities.

Blockchain technology in the form of digital currency is increasingly competitive. In early 2016, Bitcoin controlled 91.3 percent market share but fell to 59.4 percent in December 2017. Not only because of Bitcoin Cash, the emergence of other digital currencies such as Ethereum and Litecoin also cause the price of Bitcoin up and down.

Then, whether Bitcoin will continue to be of high value or will eventually descend on the earth? Again, only time can answer.