When Bill Gates appeared on Reddit criticizing cryptocurrencies, one of their advocates accused him of saying, “The old tech guy probably doesn’t understand the new revolution.” So is it a new revolution that keeps up with the new generation, its vision and ideas, which are the product of the digital world and its influences, or is it a financial bubble that has begun to recede?
In 2008, an anonymous developer named Satoshi Nakamoto announced an innovation that allows profit, or what became known as Bitcoin. The process seemed very simple and only required a regular computer and an electronic cash program for a process known as mining. But what was hidden was more complicated than that, as issuing this first-of-its-kind digital currency does not require printing it and taking its value from gold as is the case with traditional currencies, but rather depends on the rise or fall of its price and the increase in its number in the market.
But it has worked to a large extent and as of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors have accepted Bitcoin as a payment method. Research from the University of Cambridge estimates that in 2017, there were between 2.9 and 5.8 million users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of whom use Bitcoin. Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency currently in the market. A variety of alternative cryptocurrencies have emerged, with over 60 cryptocurrencies, including six major ones that are well-valued, and we are beginning to see a new era of the crypto economy.
