CAN CRYPTOCURRENCIES EVER BECOME RELIABLE MEANS OF EXCHANGE?

This is the third article in the Impakter magazine series about Bitcoin. Written by my sociologist friend Hannah Fischer-Lauder, it explores the question of what is needed to make cryptocurrencies usable as means of exchange. Here's the beginning:



On 23 January, Stripe, the major firm that supports Bitcoin payments – it does so for more than 100,000 businesses online –  announced that it would start winding down its support immediately and stop all transactions by 23 April.

A thunderbolt in a clear blue sky that caught many Bitcoin investors unprepared, did it mark a watershed in the history of digital currencies?



THE ABOVE DESCRIBES STRIPE SERVICES (SEPTEMBER 2015) SOURCE: KINETICGROWTH.COM

If Bitcoin cannot be used as a means of exchange in a potential market of 100,000 businesses, then, surely, it is the end of its role as a currency – after all, enabling transactions is one of the two fundamental roles of currencies. The other is acting as a store of value. And we all know how that went, with Bitcoin’s infamous volatility.

Let’s put the Stripe decision in perspective.

Read the rest on Impakter, click here.

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