When I first heard about Bitcoin I thought it was the dumbest idea of the 21st century. A currency that is not regulated by a government, how could anyone see this as a good idea? That is what my mentality was prior to actually learning how Bitcoin can actually be used. My background of studies is primarily in investments. I am a graduate of the University of Central Florida with my bachelors in finance. I have obsessed over making money and growing it for as long as I can remember. My favorite means to grow my money has been index funds; total market, REIT, bond, and foreign market funds are my primary investment fund choices.
In my downtime at home I had always felt like I was missing an opportunity to make money doing small jobs online. I disliked using Paypal because the person paying could always file a claim with Paypal and reverse the payment for whatever reason after I had completed the job. I also did not like giving out my personal email address to someone online just to do a job I would be paid a few dollars for. This is where my view of Bitcoin finally changed. Through the help of ChangeTip I was able to learn how people can send micro payments to each other for odd jobs available to be done online. The only thing is you must use Bitcoin in order to send these payments. But if you are unhappy with Bitcoin you can convert it to the currency of your choice after receiving payment. The Bitcoin is now the middleman in this exchange where as Paypal was the middle man prior. The difference is Bitcoin does not have the issues Paypal with regards to reverse transactions and potential fees with sending payment.
This is why my view was changed so easily, and dratically. I was first given 100 bits of a Bitcoin through a “tip” on Reddit. At first, I thought this was fake or a scam. But then I followed the link and did some research and discovered that someone did in fact send me 100 bits of a Bitcoin. Since then I have been using ChangeTip to receive and send payments and using Coinbase as a means to store my Bitcoins that are not in use as well. That is the great thing about Bitcoin as well; you can have multiple online wallet addresses where as with Paypal it can be difficult to have more than 1 active account.
Now some people still view Bitcoin as an investment. I still do not see it as an investment. Given that the Bitcoin supply is continuing to grow as they are mined, and they are mined at a constant rate, that means Bitcoin is actually depreciating. The speculative factor needs to be higher than the inflation factor in order for the value of Bitcoin to rise from a monetary viewpoint. This is why Bitcoin is not an investment from a true financial standpoint, but it can be an investment when it comes to furthering our use of currencies. That should not hinder someone’s view of Bitcoin though, as Bitcoin can be converted to a currency if you are unwilling to take any risk with holding it long-term.
So if you are on the fence with where you stand with Bitcoin, give these ideas a think through. Bitcoin can be a great source for receiving and sending instant payments. It is much easier than some people believe it to be.
Source : http://www.coinbuzz.com/2015/01/03/now-see-bitcoins-potential/
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