I’ve never written about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies before. But there’s a reason I want to start now. We’re in a hype bubble. It doesn’t mean cryptos or bad. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy. It just means….there’s a lot of hype and scammers out there. We’ve seen this story at least twice before in past 20 years and many people have gotten hurt. I’ve been actively involved in investing in Cryptocurrencies since 2014,for the past 16months I’ve participated in various ICOs (Internet Coin Offerings) that are all doing well. I say this just to establish some credentials. I will be writing more frequently about cryptocurrencies simply because I see so many people I know starting to be hurt when, in fact, there’s opportunities to make a lot of money in the space. it's no surprise that cryptocurrencies are exciting, overall. Because they're decentralized (no banks!), anonymous and electric, they've got the potential to change the world as we know it. Interestingly, that change will extend beyond the finance sector: Cryptocurrency, it turns out, has a huge number of uses, many of which will surprise you. Just take a look at these 6:
- You Can Actually Use Them to Buy Lots of Things Aside from Iceland and its foreign exchange freeze, cryptocurrencies are legal all over the world. However, countries like China are still a bit wary and Bitcoin trade there is subject to heavy restrictions. But besides that, plenty of places now accept Bitcoin, and not surprisingly, they tend to be businesses with strong ties to the web. Amazon, eBay, PayPal, GameStop, WordPress, Newegg, Apple’s App Store, Expedia, Subway, CVS, and OkCupid all accept Bitcoin as do traditional brick and mortar stores like Sears, Kmart, and Home Depot. Dell recently announcedthat they would be accepting Bitcoin, making them the largest company to accept them as currency. And even if you choose to go down some darker corners of the internet, to places like 4Chan or The Pirate Bay, rest assured that your Bitcoins will be able to follow you there as well. Of course, you can also just blow them on some Reddit gold.
- They are Still Kind of Unstable Like all currency, cryptocurrencies’ value fluctuates. Even with their highly planned formulas and ultimately finite supply, they have their ups and downs. However, because of how new they are, not everyone who invested right away realized this. Bitcoin was going up so they just assumed it would go up forever and they should get in while the getting was good. It was a never-ending gold rush, until it ended. In the past few months, Bitcoin has suffered some tremendous crashes, slashing its value in half from around $1000 per Bitcoin to $500. Some believers lost so much money that the Bitcoin subreddit felt compelled to post a link to the suicide prevention hotline to help its readers get through these tough times. However, all of these cracks in Bitcoin’s armor have just inspired legions of new cryptocurrencies to rise up and take its place. But there’s nothing to suggest that they won’t fall prey to this volatility as well.
- Battling electoral fraud Another ethical application of cryptocurrency will be its ability to help battle electoral fraud. Santiago Siri is the co-founder of Democracy Earth, a non-profit that's designing an app to combine voting with blockchain technology. Siri says that with cryptocurrency, electoral fraud -- or any other kind of corruption involving money -- will no longer be possible.
- Travel As Bitcoin becomes accepted by more and more retailers, people are going to have the chance to use them for a huge number of transactions. Travel transactions are just one category. The website cheapair.com, a travel agency where you can purchase flights, hotels, car rentals and cruises, has been accepting Bitcoin since 2013.
- Education More and more, schools are accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. According to Futurism.com, universities in Switzerland, Germany, Cyprus and the United States have started to accept Bitcoin as payment. This form of payment will surely grow as this currency becomes more and more popular.
- Againt Corrupting charities Additionally, cryptocurrency can be used to avoid corruption in charitable organizations. Because of its ability to keep companies accountable, blockchain can eliminate many problems occurring with charities, such as fund leaks. That's why the World Food Programme (WFP) is using blockchain to securely distribute cash assistance to the hungry.
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