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Bitcoin is the current trend term. Every day new news about digital currency pops up: among the most recent, we have the opening of a virtual store that works with payments exclusively in Bitcoin, BitcoinShop.us; the arrival of Bitcoin ATMs, which would be like automated exchange offices that would allow Bitcoin cash withdrawals and the purchase of new coins through financial deposits on the machine itself; and the inclusion of the term in the Oxford Dictionary, one of the most important in the world.
Enthusiasm for the novelty, however, can be damaging. Reports from financial entities, such as the European Central Bank, show that Bitcoin has quite a lot in common with pyramid schemes, also known as "multilevel marketing."
Realize, you need to be aware that Bitcoin is still a developing currency without government control. Therefore, it is necessary to be aware that several problems can happen, such as theft or perhaps a sudden devaluation of the currency, resulting in financial losses for those who wanted to use Bitcoins as a form of investment.
It is also necessary to consider that creating Bitcoins is based on the processing power of your machine to "mine," through complex mathematical algorithms, a few cents of Bitcoin. It is as if the Central Bank were at your house.
Users report that about 12 hours of mining yields around 0.30 BTC, which Izzy Nobre, a blogger who has done extensive research on the subject, argues is a terrible investment. After all, is there a profit in this, putting in the tip of the pencil the cost of the energy spent in these 12 hours, the wear and tear of the computer cooler, among other aspects? Well, the subject is still quite contradictory.
An interesting case to analyze, from the perspective of the devil's lawyer, is that of a Reddit user who invested $ 10,000 in machinery to mine Bitcoins, earning a mere 300 Bitcoins. With the poor result, he got tired of pursuing the dream of free money, losing about 70% of his investment.
Is it worth spending all this to mine virtual money? Besides, it is necessary to overcome the heat of a mining plant. Due to high processing, computers are overheated to the point that they can be used to dehydrate fruits!
Getting to the mainstream
In the meantime, state finance agencies are trying to understand how they can bill their money over Bitcoin transactions.
The Federal Ministry of Finance of Germany already recognizes Bitcoin as a private currency but insists that there will be no tax exemption for anyone carrying out commercial activities accepting Bitcoins. The German government has announced that Bitcoin trading would be subject to capital gain rates, just like any other commercial activity.
The great interest of governments in finding ways to regulate a currency that purports to be politically independent may cause Bitcoin's original purpose to be lost over time. Who knows, it may even be elected as an international currency, but there will probably be specific local regulations.
Leaving Kreuzberg, a neighborhood in the German capital where you can pay for drinks, discs, and even cakes with Bitcoins, the virtual currency is gradually becoming more accepted. In addition to paying for shady items from the deep web, you can also pay for purchases of WordPress services, and make purchases on sites such as Kim Dotcom's Reddit and Mega. The Humble Bundle, for example, already places Bitcoins together with payments via PayPal and credit cards.
The parity of values between dollars and BTCs is still very confusing, and it is necessary to understand what parity the website in question is using. This is because the currency has had peaks in appreciation, and it may be more expensive to pay an item in Bitcoins than in American money - considering the first transaction made with the currency, in January 2010, which paid for a pizza with about 10,000 BTCs, equivalent today to almost 1.2 million dollars.
For now, Bitcoin still looms as a trend, which may or may not be geared up shortly. It may be the new Second Life, which resists for a few years but ends up being left aside. Still, it may become the Euro of the internet, facilitating transactions and becoming a single currency for digital payments.
Anyone interested in the subject can go to one of the exchange offices and buy their first Bitcoins to test how it works. The most daring can use the processing power of their machines to generate their Bitcoins. Still, it will take a little more technical preparation, patience, and investment of time and energy (even electricity!).
The most skeptical or fearful can do like me: stay tuned and watch the market. A currency that started with little appreciation and suddenly jumped from parity of USD 13 to 120 needs to show now what it came from. Bitcoin's future, however, does not seem to be that far away. Today, Bitcoin is an attractive investment commodity. Anyone can contribute to Bitcoin trading thanks to various platforms and tools created specifically for that, one of which is a trading robot Bitcoin Lifestyle.
It is no coincidence that so many people have been talking about Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency has already risen more than 10,000% in just one year and broke historical records in 2017: a single bitcoin was worth more than ten thousand reais. And many people believe that Bitcoin will continue this exponential rise, but one day it may replace the currency that we have.