Keep an Eye on Bitcoins

Bitcoin is a decentralized (i.e., no single country or organization controls it) digital currency. It was introduced in 2009 by an anonymous hacker, and over the last couple of years it is gathering a lot of interest. In fact if you check Google Trends for the term you’ll notice a huge spike taking place at this very moment in time.

The big advantage of bitcoin is that, since you can transfer money without going through a central organization or middlemen, transactions can be anonymous and free or change. Additionally since there’s no country issuing or backing the money the currency is not subject to monetary policy, country-based inflation and so on.

The downside is the security aspect. For one thing not having a country to back the currency up makes it a riskier investment. Second, given that the currency is completely digital it’s more susceptible to attacks and frauds.

If you want to read more about it, check out the Wikipedia entry.
That all being said, what I find interesting about bitcoin is that we are at the very beginning of the phenomenon, and no one knows for sure where it’s going.

Sure, there’s a chance it will flop and die within a couple of years, but there’s also a chance that it will revolutionize money as we know it. And if this happens there will be a lot of opportunities for companies and people, especially if you move early on.

In other words, I think it’s early to take a stand (i.e., don’t rush out to purchase as many bitcoins as you can, as some people are doing), but it’s the right time to start monitoring the developments. After all it’s not every day that something appears with the potential to drastically change the world.
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Keep an Eye on Bitcoins