Current Events #10 (MP3 #1)

     For almost the beginning of human history people have been facilitating commerce, the method of which changing from time period from to time period. The earliest method of commerce was barter. In short, a good or service from one party is exchanged for a good or service from another party. As time went on other methods of commerce formed involving a form of currency. Early currencies consisted of things that everyone wanted such as gold, silver, furs, and even spices like salt. Currency eventually became paper, with the holder being able to go to a bank an exchange it for gold in some cases. In the modern day most countries use paper bills and metal coins as their form of currency but a new form of currency gained a lot of attention just a year ago, cryptocurrency.
     Cryptocurrency, unlike the other forms of currency before it, is completly digital. Unlike with material currency, which you can use to buy something from a physical store, cryptocurrency is used purely for online transactions. A popular form of crypto that gained popularity just a year ago was Bitcoin. It was gaining value fast and more and more people fled to get their share of it but its bubble eventually popped. A year later Bitcoin seems to be taking another plunge in value and the cryptocurrency market has taken a sizable dip overall. It could be because this market is a very volatile market, with huge dips and spikes being normal, but it could say more about where the market overall is headed.
     Some people, such as Finance magazine editor Merryn Webb, say cryptocurrencies could lose even more value. Webb said that the notion these currencies are just fueled by speculation and have little value is proving to be true and eventually these currencies will be worth closer to 0. Others, such as Iqbal Gandham, say that there is a good future for crypto. Gandham predicts the value of Bitcoin will soar to upwards of $1mil in the next few years and the recent tumbles have been affecting everyone in the markets such as Apple and Amazon. Whatever direction crypto takes regulations may be considered for investing in these markets in the UK. The executive director of the FCA says that people must be warned they could lose large amounts of money investing in these markets and wouldn't confim if any regulations were coming but called for questioning how these markets are being presented to the average consumer. Some, such as Gandham, welcome any regualtions and others, such as Webb, say the tech behind crypto could transform commerce but investors will eventually deem cryptocurrency worthless.
     My reflection is that completely digital currency, in the state it is in right now, don't have a future in becoming a standardized currency for commerce. These currencies are volatile and traditional currencies have relative stability to them. The USD has fluctuated in value over the past few decades but cryptocurrencies gain and lose a significant amount of value overnight. The volatility of these currencies make these currencies very unreliable and one cannot depend on a cryptocurrency to be worth and buy the same things it did just yesterday. Secondly, a currencies have been given value since an aspect of it was something everyone needed/valued. Gold was given its value since it was a precious metal, animals were given its value since they were a necessity for living, but cryptocurrency has nothing but people deciding it should be worth something. It seems like the overall crypto bubble is yet to pop since at some point investors will realize nothing but human agreement is giving crypto its value and human agreement is subject to change.

Works Cited:

Jones, Rory Cellan "Tech Tent - is it curtains for crypto?" 23 Nov 2018. Web 24 Nov 2018.

<https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46323286>