Fact or Fiction?

in #steemit8 years ago

Cryptocurrencies have been around for more than 6 years. For some it's a mystery, but for others, it's an opportunity. I just want to share with the enthusiastic steemit community and get your opinion about an article I came across three months ago. It's about Bitcoin myths and truth behind the lies.

Myth #1: There is nothing special about Bitcoin. Other coins can do what it does.

Bitcoin is the original crypto-currency, so the "Altcoins" are many times derivatives of Bitcoin or offshoots of its blockchain. It may not even be possible to buy an alt coin without buying Bitcoin, so it acts as a global reserve currency for decentralized digital currency.

Bitcoin is held to just 21 million coins. Most coins are much greater in volume, as much as One BILLION coins circulated, destroying any real lasting monetary value. Bitcoin’s Blockchain security has proven to be hacker-proof and is the industry standard. Bitcoins can even carry up to 1000 bits of digital information (keys, combinations, signatures, etc.) per coin, and can be broken into millionths of units, as needed, for micro-transactions.

Myth #2: Bitcoins don’t do anything a Dollar or Gold cannot do.

Compared to the dollar, Bitcoins rise in value. Dollars do not. Dollars have lost value every year since WWII. Dollars can only be divided 100 times. Bitcoin? 1 Million times. Dollars are controlled by a private company! Bitcoins are decentralized.

Relative to Gold, you can buy goods and services directly with Bitcoins. Gold prices are manipulated by major private banking interests. Gold is harder to move, store, and acquire. Bitcoins, being a digital file, can be backed up online, and stored multiple times (But can only be spent once.)

Myth #3: Bitcoins aren’t backed by anything of value.

Bitcoins are backed by the same thing as the U.S. Dollar, or any other currency, for that matter. Bitcoin’s value is backed by market demand. The Dollar hasn’t been backed by anything "of value" since 1971 when it was removed from The Gold Standard for good.


Myth #4: Bitcoins don’t have any intrinsic value.

Dollars have higher demand, and are widely accepted, but Bitcoins can do more. Bitcoins value increases while dollars do not. Bitcoins are not manipulated by private companies and governments. Dollars can be hard to move cheaply or securely while Bitcoins do this naturally. Demand for the dollar is fading globally while demand for Bitcoins is still growing. Many would call these features valuable.

Myth #5: Uses "unproven" cryptography for security that makes Bitcoins worthless.

Cryptography has been used by governments, militaries, and any top-level security agency (NSA) for over 50 years. Versions of this are currently used today, by you, to do things like online banking. Cryptography represents the state-of- the-art in security, and the Bitcoin Blockchain has shown no weakness in millions of transactions worldwide, after over seven years of service.

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Thank you @jeemit01, I have to admit I am just learning about bitcoin now and mainly through this site. Thanks again.

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