Since each bitcoin will be valued higher with each passing day, the question of when to spend becomes important. This might cause spending surges which will cause the Bitcoin economy to fluctuate very rapidly, and unpredictably. Since Bitcoins do not have a physical form, it cannot be used in physical stores.
The problem with Bitcoin according to Samuel Bankman-Fried, the FTX founder.
Samuel Bankman-Fried (born March 6, 1992), also known by his initials SBF, is an American entrepreneur, billionaire, and investor. He is the founder and CEO of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, and FTX.US, its U.S. affiliate. As of February 2022, the exchange has over one million users.
SBF is helping the crypto community in recognizing the true value in crypto.
1. On payments.
Bitcoin base-layer in his opinion can’t scale and can’t be used for global payments. But through layer 2 technology is “absolutely” going to scale.
And blockchain-based payments are absolutely needed in the current banking world, especially for international transfers. Payments are the first area where we’ll see relevant improvements in people’s daily lives through decentralized solutions.
2. On markets
When retail trading volume is high, settling transactions can result in a loss for brokers. With crypto, everyone can send orders straight to the exchange; in equities, only the wealthiest traders can. This means you can bypass all of the settlement risks from intermediaries.
3. On social network
Social networks have pseudo-monopolies, with gigantic network effects that prevent new competitors. With blockchain-based social networks, interoperability can allow any user to repost from Blockchain-Twitter to Blockchain-Facebook. This will allow the most decentralized interoperability between systems and will be at the advantage of users.
You can find the full thread on his personal Twitter profile. @SBF_FTX14w
Experts Caution Nigerians On Trade
Despite economic losses from cryptocurrency trade and caution by financial experts, global trade in the Bitcoin industry has hit $3 trillion.
Coming at a time that Nigeria has been ranked as the leading country in Bitcoin adoption in Africa followed by Togo, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Kenya and South Africa, the Convener of Bitcoin Africa conference, Farida Nabourema, said in the past five years, the industry has been the fastest on the planet and has surpassed card transactions.
She mentioned that the African continent has the fastest adoption rates in the world and at this rate, the continent may surpass America, Europe, or even Asia.
She noted that the maiden African Bitcoin conference scheduled to hold in Accra, Ghana between December 3 to 5, would attract about 800 people across the globe to speak about new innovations in the sector.
Speaking on Bitcoin investment, she urged Nigerians to be careful saying one cannot recoup investment in crypto currency immediately. “In five to 10 years from now, Bitcoin is not going to be worth what it’s worth today, it is going to be worth close to a million dollars for one Bitcoin.
Nabourema said: “When people say can I invest in Bitcoin? I just tell them, can you invest in naira? Can you invest in dollars? The whole idea of making money out of Bitcoin is buying it and holding it.”
She noted that several applications and services tare are being built on the Bitcoin protocol, including hospitality management and healthcare transportation, adding that donor organisations are also moving to the blockchain to administer their grants because it is more transparent and reduces the number of frauds and middlemen in the Blockchain.
The Convener of the conference pointed out that a lot of scams are happening in the cash industries and governments don’t talk about it because most of the time, they are accomplices in those illicit money trading and capital flight.
Excerpts from TheGuardian.ng