Despite reassurances from the bitcoin faithful, we may well be seeing the beginning of the end of the bitcoin bubble (Bitcoin plunges on investor jitters, January 18). This should not come as a surprise to anyone who has bothered to seriously interrogate the nature of the phenomenon. This unregulated digital unit, created (or "mined") at great computational effort and cost and limited to 21-million units in issue (if the anonymous creators are to be believed), was touted to become a worldwide payment mechanism. This was never going to happen, simply because bitcoin in its current guise and the numerous copycats it spawned do not meet any of the criteria of an acceptable currency. Apart from matters such as having to be a store of at least some value, a generally accepted means of payment and a unit of account, the fundamental question of who controls the volume in circulation remains unanswered. In a sense, bitcoin units are not unlike the cereal box cards of baseball heroes or Ben ...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.