It’s been a decade since the first Bitcoin was mined in 2009, but how far has cryptocurrency and its underlying blockchain technology come since then?
The Perception of Blockchain
Cryptocurrency was the first application of blockchain, but people quickly realized that its technology could have various applications beyond crypto. Over the last 10 years, blockchain has evolved from simply recording Bitcoin transactions to executing smart contracts to improving transaction performance through a hyperledger.
As more companies have begun to experiment with blockchain, it has become easier to see its potential, and advancements in blockchain technology have made it easier to adopt. Forbes reported that last year, 95% of companies across different industries were investing in blockchain projects. Among those companies are big names like Amazon, Goldman Sachs, IBM, and Oracle.
Many companies have jumped on the blockchain bandwagon, but some have since realized that blockchain is not the solution to everything. Blockchain can make some systems even more cumbersome or costly. A lot of trial and error is still happening today while people discover its best uses, but the overall sentiment toward blockchain appears to be positive and hopeful.
The Perception of Cryptocurrencies
While blockchain technology has been considered, tested, and implemented by many different companies across multiple industries, cryptocurrencies have seen slower, but steady growth as the general population continues to learn about them.
People have been demonstrating their crypto curiosity through their Google searches. “What is Bitcoin?” was ranked as one of the top Google searches of 2018, and was the most commonly searched “What is…?” question that year. The word “Bitcoin” itself has been searched frequently, spiking during the most recent bull run that saw Bitcoin reach almost $13k last month.
Studies conducted on Bitcoin’s search volume suggest that increases in search engine inquiries correlate with increases in its exchange rate. The more excited the cryptocurrency community becomes about Bitcoin’s price, the more people seek out information about it.
Evidence of cryptocurrency’s expanding influence can be found in the increasing number of crypto ATMs being installed around the world, the invention of crypto credit/debit cards, and the many relevant conferences that have popped up over the past few years.
The overall sentiment toward cryptocurrencies seems just as polarized today as when Bitcoin first came to fruition, despite more people knowing about their existence. Sentiments range from seeing cryptocurrencies as revolutionary to seeing them as dangerous. Some people believe in the value they hold while others believe they are not worth anything at all.
Every form of money is essentially worthless unless enough people agree on its value. The same goes for stocks. As long as there is a community that rallies around Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, they will continue to gain traction as the world figures out where they fit in with our preexisting fiat currencies.
Looking Ahead
Due to Facebook’s announcement of its plans to release Libra, its “global cryptocurrency,” United States government officials are finally starting to take more notice. President Donald Trump’s recent denouncement of Bitcoin and crypto seems to have polarized people’s opinions even more. Bitcoin saw a small price increase after Trump’s tweets but now that he has broken his silence on the issue, it’s possible other presidential candidates who haven’t shared their thoughts on crypto will feel the need to pick a side.
Like much of the U.S. population, our elected representatives in Congress are learning about crypto for the first time and are trying to understand the differences between Bitcoin, Libra, and other types of cryptocurrencies. Their understanding of these nuances is imperative and will foreshadow the direction in which crypto regulation will go within the U.S. Whether the outcome is positive or negative for crypto, the coming months will play an important role in their potential mass adoption.
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