Launched in late 2008, the introduction of bitcoin and the spark of cryptocurrency that continued revealed the beginning of a modern take on the monetary system. It allowed for a peer-to-peer system using the idea of blockchain to create a currency that prevented the centralization of money as it is usually kept for example in larger banks. However, due to many misunderstandings of the project, Bitcoin has been both successful and unsuccessful with its most recent achievement of surpassing £40,000 in the initial months of 2021 compared to when it sold for $0 previously 12 years ago, in 2009 compared to crashes in its primary stages.
Much of its success is credited to its peer-to-peer exchange that provided platforms where people were able to trade crypto assets as well as other items of value interchangeably upon the traders’ own terms, this gave control to the buyers and sellers, which unlike the traditional form of payment called fiat currency held the users’ funds in centralised institutes like banks. Furthermore, the concept of blockchain demonstrated a system that could provide a digital ledger of transactions that was then distributed upon the blockchain network, therefore maintaining a safer, better record of transactions as the data can’t be tampered with due to the data being recorded in blocks of code.
On the other hand, as the idea of cryptocurrency is relatively new, it is fair to assume there are sceptics especially due to the loose regulations around these currencies at the beginning of their circulation, however this has now been resolved with laws put into place to eradicate illegal activity. Moreover, Bitcoin does still have some shortcomings that can only be explained due to its developing technology such as its limitations with transactions that can be executed per second as other newer cryptocurrencies have become increasingly faster. Lastly, one of the major effects is its negative environmental factors as the bitcoin creation in February of 2018 had been reported to release 20 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, although there is a predicted transition into renewable energy sources.
“The development of cryptocurrency and this global shift towards decentralised systems that give ownership and control to people of their own earnings, I believe, is the future of money.”- Akshanaa Vakeesan.
Overall, the advancements that can be still made in the crypto industries has still been seemingly undiscovered as since the beginning of Bitcoin there have been various new cryptocurrencies that have been introduced, each offering different distinct traits. By taking into account the developments yet to be made, it seems that cryptocurrency has a promising outlook on our monetary system, it almost gives power back to the people!
