BILL GATES AND HIS SOFTWARE GIANT COMPANY...
...on Monday, Microsoft stopped accepting bitcoin as payment method for their products and services. A couple of months ago, Valve, a gaming company, also broke up with bitcoin due to high transaction fees. A Microsoft insider said the reason is the high-volatility and unstable price of bitcoin.
Take-away Question: Will STEEM follow bitcoin's path of high-volatility and unstable price in the future?
Photo Credit: EXPRESS.CO.UK
My Take
This is one of the downsides of bitcoin as the leading cryptocurrency by marketcap and this is due to its high volatility. The high volatility is very attractive to investors and traders especially those who want to cash in on bitcoin in a short period of time.
However, while this characteristic is very good for traders and investors, it is not the characteristic that retailers and business owners want as payment. Imagine accepting 0.00001btc for a latte in the morning which later becomes 0.000001 for the same cup of latte in the afternoon.
And while I believe in bitcoin, in my book it will be a simple "bridge" or "channel" of conversion from one cryptocurrency to fiat or vice-versa. This is based on the current setup in the Philippines where only bitcoin is the cryptocurrency that you can directly convert to fiat, officially and legally.
Trading bitcoin is a very lucrative yet very high-risk commodity play around. But if you have the heart and stomach for such a roller-coaster ride, then go ahead.
Photo Credit: CURREXY.COM
Will STEEM Become Bitcoin in Terms of Its Highly Volatile Price?
Now, the take-away question above, stands to be answered. And ALL cryptocurrencies will suffer this dilemma as well. Just a week ago STEEM took a flight to over $8 a pop. As of this writing, STEEM is in the mid-$5 levels, a 37% drop from ATH since Steemit launched in March 2016.
If STEEM is aimed to be a cryptocurrency that will carry the vision of bitcoin to be a payment currency, this volatility will not cut it. Take SBD, for example, one day its price is just $1.20 and after a few days together with the unprecedented rise of bitcoin price, it rose up to $13!
Not a retailer wants from a cryptocurrency. But definitely what we Steemians, want.
Care to air your comments?
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT INVESTMENT ADVICE AND ONLY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR. PLEASE CONSULT A FINANCIAL EXPERT IF YOU WANT TO INVEST IN CRYPTOCURRENCY.
There was post saying that the utility of Steem would be higher if the value was stable. The SBD was supposed to keep the value of Steem peg to USD. There are mechanisms to raise the value of SBD, but there doesn't seem to be a mechanism or the will to bring the SBD closer to the value of 1 USD. It's almost like no real use for SBD's, now.
Except for a hefty profit, SBD that is. I used to think SBD is internal valuation of STEEM to get an estimate of what STEEM's real value outside of Steemit. I was surprised SBD is also traded. That will surely bring volatility to the token.
Thank you @cjclaro for promoting this post together with https://steemit.com/budget/@jerrybanfield/introducing-steem-budget-proposals
Very good information. Every cryptocurrency is volatile, no exception for Steem also. It seems, this year we can see the fall of Bitcoin as the King of cryptocurrencies. Thanks to the miners for high transaction fees and delayed transactions.
I'm not sure about dismissing Bitcoin just yet. Many things can happen and there are 250B reasons Bitcoin will not go down, not without a fight. It will tumble down, yes, even multiple times but BTC will survive as it has survived in the past against adversities of many kind.
What I am not confident about is that BTC being a mode of payment. It will most likely turn into an asset rather than a currency.
This post has received a 4.32 % upvote, thanks to: @cjclaro.