IT'S AN ARTICLE:found it yesterday ---
Thta's why is well written :)
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Some Bitcoin proponents have argued that the fact that Bitcoins are not printed by sovereign nations is a plus that should boost its value. There are a finite supply of Bitcoins determined by an algorithm.
But that doesn't justify why the price should have hit an all-time high above $1,100 back in November 2013.
The surge in Bitcoin prices back then was a classic speculative mania, just like Internet stocks in the late 1990s and houses in the mid-2000s.
When people say that the price of something should keep going up indefinitely, that often means that too many people are chasing that asset higher ... and it's really due for a painful crash.
But Bitcoin is not dead. Still, it appears that the dust may have finally settled on Bitcoin. For that reason, it may be wrong to declare that it's on the way to obsolescence.
That's the argument of prominent venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who has invested in Bitcoin wallet startup Coinbase.
Andreessen defended Bitcoin -- and attacked its many detractors -- in an epic tweetstorm last week. (26 enumerated tweets in a period of 48 minutes!)
Related: Spent bitcoins? Expect a tax headache
His main argument was that Bitcoin is an ecosystem, a method of payment. The focus on Bitcoin as if it were something investors should trade doesn't make sense.
Here are a few of his most salient points.
"Attacking Bitcoin for having speculative levels of volatility is missing the point of how the system was designed for this point in time," he wrote in one tweet.
"In the short run, Bitcoin is still highly useful as a transaction and trust network in many uses cases even with high volatility," he added.
He is right about that. There is a reason why several big companies such as Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30), Dell and online retailer Overstock (OSTK) are accepting Bitcoins as payment.
You can also use Bitcoins to purchase gift cards from retailers such as Target (TGT)and Amazon (AMZN, Tech30). And a growing number of local small businesses have embraced Bitcoin too.
Andreessen also noted that "cherry-picking" specific date points to use when discussing the price changes also is disingenuous.
Anyone that bought a Bitcoin at the end of 2012, for example, is still sitting on a huge gain.
So it's probably a mistake to declare the end of Bitcoin just yet. In fact, there's even a website devoted to Bitcoin obituary stories ... that have so far proven to be all wrong.
Bitcoin has apparently died 32 times already.
First Published: January 15, 2015: 10:56 AM ET
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