Four or five years ago, many people said that Bitcoin was a Ponzi scheme, a tulip bubble. It would definitely fall. I scoffed at these views. Obviously, they did not understand the nature of currency or encryption. Yes, Bitcoin itself has no use value. Gold has almost no use value. But gold can be used to make electronic parts. Paper money is even less valuable. Millions of dollars are not enough to burn in the fireplace for ten minutes to keep warm. And the actual use value of cash in the Alipay server is 0.
After all, money itself is valuable. But currency needs to meet the following conditions: easy to divide, difficult to counterfeit, and limited supply. When these three conditions are met, people can act as intermediaries for transactions and conduct commercial activities. Gold and silver were the common currencies of ancient countries, and as natural metals, they met these three conditions. Later, with the advancement of science and technology, the anti-counterfeiting ability of paper money was strengthened, and the state also strengthened its law enforcement capabilities against counterfeit banknotes, allowing paper money to circulate and replace precious metal currencies. The latest developments in modern cryptography allow the circulation of digital currencies. In other words, your Yu'ebao and WeChat wallets are basically digital currencies. Through modern cryptography anti-counterfeiting, the worthless data meets the three conditions of currency. Because digital currency is fast and easy to use, digital currency is now gradually replacing paper money.
But one problem with Ant Payment and WeChat Wallet is that Jack Ma's theory can clear your assets at any time. In theory, Jack Ma can also secretly issue more currency to devalue your currency. Therefore, in many cases, Alipay's digital currency is not 100% safe. Another problem with this centralized digital currency is that privacy is completely exposed. We have now entered an era that humans have never experienced. Every transaction of every individual has been fully exposed publicly.
Bitcoin is the ultimate in counterfeiting and privacy. Not only does it meet all three conditions of money, it also has all the advantages of digital money, and there is no one who can monitor all Bitcoin transactions. No one can issue a large number of Bitcoins. I think this perfect currency is very interesting, and I would be surprised if people did not use it as a medium for transactions. But it is not impossible for Bitcoin to replace precious metals.
