Despite the bear trend the influence of which was extremely noticeable in 2018, according to the official data the volume of Bitcoin payments processed on the public blockchain network the previous year amounted to over $3.2 trillion.
Such an incredible sum can be considered to be a proof of the efficiency of the asset as one of the most popular and highly-demanded international payment means. Given this fact it can be viewed as an alternative to traditional settlement systems for cross-border payments.
Bitcoin and Gold
Bearing in mind the nature of Bitcoin, its apartness of the wider financial market and lack of correlation with traditional investment tools, it is quite obvious that Bitcoin is quite often compared to gold. These both types of assets can be effectively used as a medium of exchange and a store of value.
Nevertheless, the history of Bitcoin and its journey to mass adoption started much later than the history of gold. Thanks to its ability to be applied to a cross-border payment system, Bitcoin represents itself an upgraded version of gold.
Bitcoin transactions are much faster and more convenient than traditional financial services or gold operations. Bitcoin transactions do not require the involvement of any third party or regulators, as a result, turning to crypto assets you have an opportunity to avoid time-consuming and boring paperwork and other related activities.
The world’s major crypto exchange Binance managed to send $600 million charging a fee of $7 in November 2018. The transaction speed was higher than 107,000 Bitcoin per hour.
The Bitcoin network makes it possible to quickly process large transactions and to work with cross-border transactions. Thanks to its efficiency in these two types of operations, the network managed to reach a volume of $3.2 trillion in 2018, gaining 2.91 percent since the previous year.
Moreover, it’s worth mentioning that the announced volume doesn’t include the over-the-counter trading volume which is even larger than the volume of transactions conducted on the exchanges.
Bitcoin to Become New Gold Standard?
Though some experts do not take Bitcoin seriously, the experts of an asset management firm Lucid Investment Strategies are rather positive about the future of Bitcoin.
They believe that one day it will be traded for $10 million. Moreover, they think that it can become the new gold standard putting end to the debt crisis.
The company believes that quite soon Bitcoin will break out of its slump which will be the first step towards its $10 million level. The next factor to help Bitcoin grow is the destruction of all altcoins, as a result, it will become obvious that Bitcoin is the standard.
Lucid experts also say that after reaching the $100,000 mark Bitcoin will start to compete with gold to become the world’s premier economic option and it will have good chances especially if investors start selling gold for the major crypto.
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