Digital reality. How bitcoin has become a part of our life and an investment asset

The blockade and the crypto-currencies broke into our life truly with cosmic speed. A year ago, at about the same time, only a narrow circle of professionals knew about digital assets. How to invest correctly in a new tool?

Previously, few knew about bitcoin, but only a year passed, and everything changed. We saw how the creator of Ethereum Vitalik Buterin met the first person of the state, as dozens of conferences on tokens, ICO and other hitherto unknown phenomena were held every month in the capital, as the most famous and popular of the crypto-currencies, the bitokuneu, was erected a monument.

The symbol of the past 2017 can be called a rapid take-off of bitcoin and an equally unexpected collapse. But this is the tip of the iceberg, and in its underwater part - structural changes, the comprehension of which is important for predicting how the market of crypto currency will develop on the horizon of the next few years. 

Most importantly, this change is that, no matter how the course of bitcoins jumps, in a number of developed countries, crypto-currencies are already part of the economic reality. They are used in electronic commerce and payment for services in online payments, often used as a payment instrument for real estate investments or financial transactions. The turnover of bitcoin has already exceeded the turnover of means of such a well-known payment system as Western Union. 

A virtual reality

However, the market is crypto-virtual and is speculative in nature. Crypto-currencies are not provided with real financial assets, they are not correlated with such basic classical economic concepts as gross domestic product, national income, exports and imports. The dollar is based on the full power of the modern high-tech American economy, the ruble is the country's oil and gas reserves, which will last for decades if not centuries, the yuan is a dynamic consumer market of one and a half billion people inside China and the whole planet beyond.

Bitcoin, etherium and all other alternative crypto-currencies (collectively called altcoyins), on the contrary, were born in the depths of computer networks. In Venezuela, the Crypto-currency was tried just a few days ago to bind to oil, creating El Petro, but note that it happened in the national economy currently in the peak of hyperinflation, that is, in a country where money is losing value every day.

At the same time, the financial base for crypto currency exists. The same bitcoin has a finite amount of money (21 million coins), of which 12 million have already been extracted, and a mathematically sound ending date for the end of mining - 2140, when the last bitcoin will be produced.

And this means that, unlike classical money, crypto-currencies are not subject to such a method of depreciation as monetary emission - no one can include a virtual machine similar to a printing press in the world of classical money, and crash the course of the crypto currency. Perhaps, that is why the Venezuelan government clasped for crypto-currencies as drowning over a straw.

Recall also that the dollar - the main universal payment unit - since 1978, since the final change of the Bretton Woods currency system to Jamaican, based on free currency conversion, has long been no longer tied to gold bars.

The external and, especially, US domestic debt of more than $ 19 trillion is already so astronomical that if two major creditors of the United States - China and Japan - plan to cash out their securities, then the largest economy in the world is waiting for an imminent default.

Of course, neither these countries, nor other large creditors will be engaged in such destructive actions, because in this case, under the wreckage of the financial collapse will be the entire global economy without exception, including the national economies of the countries mentioned. Nevertheless, from this example it can be seen that the crypto-currencies are no more ephemeral than the "traditional" funds.

Not only increase, but also save

Another vulnerability is the crypto currency - the issue of investment safety. Recently made a lot of noise about how, due to the error of the developer of program code, Parity was forced to "freeze" significant amounts placed in the second most popular crypto currency - etherium.

The code developer allegedly accidentally destroyed the data library necessary for customers to use electronic wallets, direct damage - at least $ 160 million.

It is difficult to deny that modern crypto-currencies are far from ideal. First, the imperfection of computing equipment and the insufficient speed of transactions caused by this factor are evident. Secondly, there is a lack of integration with the banking sector and the financial system as a whole.

However, it seems that the opponents of the crypto-currency confuse the difficulties of the initial development of cryptology with long-term trends. The laws of economics say that any new formation in the economy or politics does not immediately arise, but gradually: it mutates in the old system, gradually transforming it and changing itself.

Thus, the initial capitalism of the 16th century had little in common with modern capitalism, just as the modern state - for example, Russia - is unlike the state of the tenth century model - Kievan Rus.

New and old formations always coexist and coexist with each other. Let's recall, even the regrettable history of serfdom in Russia - in fact, slavery, canceled, I recall, only in 1861, or with the abolition of slavery in the US, which was finally banned by the Constitution of the country only in December 1865, after the civil war.

From theory to practice

Proceeding from all told, I will allow myself some practical recommendations. First of all, diversify your investments. The principle of "not putting all the eggs in one basket" is correct at all times: in the portfolio there should be funds in bank accounts, shares with bonds, real estate, money under the pillow, and, of course, crypto-currencies.

Secondly, before you start investing, get the minimum amount of knowledge on the topic, at least for reasons of elementary security, so as not to repeat, for example, the fate of one of the enthusiasts crypto currency, which showed the key to its electronic purse on the air of the channel and was, of course , immediately cleaned up by hackers.

And, thirdly, do not join the majority of investors. Look not only at bitcoin and etherium - who knows if they are some transitional forms of crypto-currencies that will give way to new trends. Recall that the silent cinema was replaced by black and white, and the pagers quickly gave way to mobile phones.

Look closely at promising projects that are implemented with the help of altcoins, and catch the trend for faster transactions and the integration of digital solutions with the real economy.

From this point of view, it is important to monitor new trends in the crypto-currency market, which correspond to its transition to a qualitatively new era. Moreover, projects implemented on the basis of a number of altcoys allow creating during the ICO tokens under the tasks of the real, and not just the virtual economy - from gold trading to debt receipts and bonds.

Finally, in search of the signs that distinguish a reliable company in the market of crypto-currency from unreliable players, it is worthwhile to look at the nature of investments made with the help of crypto-deniers. If these projects are at the forefront of the future economy, including the creation of "smart cities", "smart houses", robotization and other aspects of the economy of the 21st century, then the investments may well be justified - provided that the organizers of the ICO inform investors in detail about the essence of their projects , not limited to vague statements.  

Forbes.ru