The stock of Bitcoin Group, a bitcoin mining company, and Hive Blockchain Technologies, another crypto mining company, have watched their share price increase by more than 1,000% year-to-date. Over 70 digital currency hedge funds stepped up to take advantage of investment opportunities in the soaring profitable crypto space, according to analytics provider Autonomous NEXT. Exchange groups like CME and Cboe are preparing to launch their own Bitcoin products and Goldman Sachs is discovering a Bitcoin trading operation. Bitcoin and blockchain are among the hottest topics and you might agree after you read our points.
New To Digital Currencies?
Like paper money and gold, Bitcoin allows parties to exchange value. Unlike their prototype, they are digital and distribute over a less concentrated area. People can exchange value without mediators which means they have more control of funds and lower fees.
The Value of Distributed-Ledger Technology
For years there has been talk about distributed-ledger technology, but until now, nobody knew where to start. Because of our market dominance and abundance of experience with mass deployment, Blockchain has brought the value of distributed-ledger technology to use for leading global institutions. Blockchain not only changes the way they do business, it enables global institutions with equal security, control, and user-friendly structure—just as they’ve done for millions of people with their personal wallet.
The distributed-ledger technology that undergrids bitcoin... could change the financial system; think the Internet before browsers.”
– THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTE
Connecting Blockchain And Bitcoin
Having the ability for users to pay for goods and services via the internet is great! But, there is always a glitch: Double-spending is an error in a digital cash scheme that allowed the same digital token to be spent multiple times. Many times, this was caused by purchasing a digital file capable of being duplicated or falsified.
Bitcoin resolved the issue of double-spending by utilizing computer science, cryptography, and game theory in January 2009, when the first Blockchain technology was released. Shortly after its release, the first official block ‘Genesis’ was created. It allowed the beginning of mining Bitcoin to take place, followed by the first transaction.
Looking past its benefits and capabilities, Bitcoin didn’t start getting traction until 2013. Currently, the market for cryptocurrencies, including over 1,000 different coins and tokens, has recently surpassed $200 billion, according to Coinmarketcap.com
Four Areas Where Blockchain is Refining Business:
- Industry Leading Research
- Settlement Speed
- Efficiency
- Security
