It was never meant to be this way.
With the price of Bitcoin skyrocketing by the hour, it's either time to buy buy buyor step back a moment and ask ourselves just exactly how Bitcoin went from a proposed digital currency to an increasingly popular investment opportunity — and what that says about its future. As this is a blog post and not the internal dialogue of a cryptocurrency trader, we're going to go with the second option.
SEE ALSO:This was Bitcoin's big year, but where does it go from here?Launched in 2009 by a still unknown person (or persons) under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin offered a decentralized currency that removed any sort of central authority from the mix. This, of course, is a fascinating idea — and over the following few years news outlets reported on it with a mixture of confusion and befuddled amusement (if they covered it at all).
But that didn't stop Bitcoin or its adherents. In 2010, a Florida programmer made what is generally considered the first transaction paying with Bitcoin — 10,000 BTC for two pizzas — and the dream of a digital currency was one step closer to reality.
But, wait — you're surely asking yourself right now — 10,000 Bitcoin for a pizza?And you'd be right to be incredulous. At today's BTC prices, the cost of that pizza comes out to $170,999,950, although that value changes hourly.
Tweet may have been deleted
That hourly change — with Bitcoin shooting up in value thousands of dollars today alone — is great for investors holding their BTC to sell at a later date, but not so good for anyone trying to use it to, actually, you know, buy something. This extremely volatile state, combined with high transaction fees, even led one major company to cease accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment on Dec. 6.
"In the past few months we've seen an increase in the volatility in the value of Bitcoin and a significant increase in the fees to process transactions on the Bitcoin network," the company, Steam, explained in a blog post. "For example, transaction fees that are charged to the customer by the Bitcoin network have skyrocketed this year, topping out at close to $20 a transaction last week (compared to roughly $0.20 when we initially enabled Bitcoin)."
Other companies may soon follow, with the future of actually using Bitcoin perhaps best represented by a joke made by security researcher Marcus Hutchins.
Tweet may have been deleted
When he tweeted that, on Nov. 26, a single Bitcoin was worth around $9,298. At the time of this writing, it's trading at $17,457 on Coinbase.
And it's not just the lost potential gains of spent Bitcoin that makes its practical use as an actual currency dubious. The aforementioned network fees themselves are pretty ridiculous. In order to process a transaction yesterday, a person would have needed to fork over around $7.34 — plus whatever fee the exchange charged.
Buying a beer with BTC doesn't make much sense when the fees are higher than the cost of the drink.
So, is Bitcoin doomed? Hardly. While no one knows exactly what the future holds, BTC looks like it's here to stay in some form or another. Is that as a decentralized digital currency, or merely an investment opportunity? Today's volatility perhaps provides a hint. In the end, Bitcoin may end up being too hot for its own good.
TopicsBitcoinCryptocurrency
(责任编辑：時尚)
Ivanka Trump's unpaid interns share cringeworthy financial adviceEvernote reverses controversial privacy policy but damage is already done
From Kimye vs. Taylor to Kimye vs. Bette Midler: The best celebrity feuds of 2016Intel's selfNate Parker is finally thinking about the woman who accused him of rapeDog elected for third term as mayor of Minnesota town
Hopefully he has a human chief of staff.。Duke the Great Pyrenees is the only dog that's ever been el
...[详细]It's not just you, Tumblr went down today
UPDATED 7:10 p.m. ET with information from a group claiming responsibility for the hack.。 Tumblr wen
...[详细]3 friends got the whole plane to themselves and we're massively jealous
Have you ever dreamed of finding yourself on a giant plane, all for yourself? That dream came true f
...[详细]World map proves basically every country has a terrible tourism slogan
When looking for somewhere to go on holiday, you might consider things like affordability and even I
...[详细]Make money or go to Stanford? Katie Ledecky is left with an unfair choice.
This is Katie Ledecky's world right now, and the rest of us are just living in it. Want proof? Ledec
...[详细]PSA: You can lawfully refuse to pay service charge at restaurants, hotels in this country
Next time you’re not happy with your food in a restaurant or the drink at a pub in India, reme
...[详细]How the murder of a Russian official went massively viral on Facebook
Warning: This post contains a graphic image that some readers may find disturbing.
。If you have an ic
...[详细]Gun violence spreads like an infectious disease, new study finds
G
。un violence in Chicago spreads like an infectious disease — and now, researchers have figure
...[详细]This 'sh*tpost' bot makes terrible memes so you don't have to
The internet is awash in trashy memes just waiting for your late-night retweet spree. Why waste prec
...[详细]Millions of red crabs migrating is the right kind of Christmas rush
Crabs are not the spiders of the sea. They are majestic creatures that are living their best life. 。J
...[详细]The Weeknd teases new music in Instagram post
The U.S. government wants to see Twitter and Facebook accounts of foreign travelers