How bitcoin is changing the world today and why you shouldn't be left behind
It’s an exciting time to be alive with several innovations transforming the world at a fast pace. And a particularly interesting one is bitcoin.
Who would have thought the world would embrace a form of money that is not physical and depends on an algorithm to be created. But that’s where we are now.
Bitcoin came as a faster, cheaper and more secure alternative to fiat money. It allows people to send money from one end of the world to the other in a matter of minutes at a fraction of the cost traditional mediums would incur.
In addition, it serves as a hedge against inflationary fiat currencies as well as a store of value.
These, and other reasons, have led to the rise in popularity of bitcoin over the past couple of months.
Particularly, bitcoin has become popular among institutional investors, which has consequently led to an increase in the value of bitcoin, so that the price of bitcoin has gone up from less than $20,000 in November 2020 to above $50,000 as of April 2021.
It has been a remarkable growth by any standard and little wonder why not only cryptography enthusiasts are the only fans of bitcoin like it was in the early days.
In fact, major companies around the world as well as notable figures have now taken a stance in support of bitcoin.
Here are some of the influential individuals and organisations that have taken actions in favour of bitcoin and the impact of their decisions on the world today.
Notable organisations using bitcoin
Tesla: In an SEC filing on the 8th of February, it was revealed that Elon Musk’s Tesla had bought $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin.
Then Elon took to Twitter on March 17th to announce that the company will now accept bitcoin as payment for its vehicles. Of course, if anyone would adopt such innovative technology as bitcoin, you would easily expect it to be Elon Musk seeing that his companies - Tesla, SpaceX and Neuralink - are focused on changing the world in unconventional ways.
Paypal: On October 20, 2020, Paypal announced that it would start supporting payments for bitcoin. This meant that its merchants would be able to accept bitcoin payments.
At the end of March 2021, the online payments processing giant began to allow its US users to pay directly with bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin.
The CEO admitted that the demand for Payal’s crypto offerings exceeded expectations. With over 28 million merchants using Paypal around the world, this means more people can now use their bitcoin for everyday transactions.
Mastercard and Visa: Given that one of the major use cases of bitcoin is as a medium of exchange, it is no surprise that global payment companies Mastercard and Visa have also started supporting payments in bitcoin.
Visa announced it was launching an API that would allow traditional banks to offer bitcoin through their existing services. And on April 27th, cryptocurrency exchange, Gemini, announced a partnership with Mastercard to launch a crypto rewards card.
Nigerian Hotel, George Residence announced plans to start accepting payments in BTC and revealed that it has converted 50% of its balance sheet to bitcoin. This makes it the country’s first hotel to accept bitcoin.
Other notable institutions that now support bitcoin include BNY Mellon, the world’s largest custodian bank, Jack Dorsey’s Square, Inc., Chinese app development company Meitu, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase & Co, and many more.
In addition, more celebrities have also turned to bitcoin over the last few months. We saw American football star Russell Okung asked to be paid in bitcoin and the NFL heard him.
Of course, Snoop Dogg has always been an advocate of bitcoin and even accepted payments for his album in BTC as early as 2012. Also, actress Maisie Williams, popularly known for her role as Arya Stark in HBO’s Game of Thrones also tweeted about buying bitcoin after asking for advice from her followers.
Conclusion
It is quite obvious that bitcoin offers solutions to many flaws in the existing financial system, which has led to its wide adoption for individuals and institutions.
And it is common for many to wonder if it is too late to buy bitcoin, or if it is the right move now, seeing that the foremost cryptocurrency keeps increasing in value. But with innovation as unique and widely adopted as bitcoin, its utility can only keep increasing.
Thankfully, cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card makes it easy for anyone to buy and sell bitcoin instantly at the best rates with their local currency be it rand, cedis or naira.
By signing up on the web app or downloading the mobile app for android or iOS, you can buy bitcoin instantly and join other early adopters around the world already using the cryptocurrency for their financial needs.
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Source: YEN.com.gh