Banks present an appealing feature of security. They do so with big steel doors, guards in uniforms, bullet proof windows, and study machines for cash withdrawal. Funny enough with all this high-tech equipment we constantly hear stories of bank accounts being hacked. After the stock market crash of 1929 anyone who had money in the banks lost it all. Today, the FDIC secures only up to $250,000, anything more than that is not insured. Hackers are always being caught lifting credit card information. I believe the full blame might not be the banks, but our archaic system of having the write these long bank account numbers when-ever an online purchase or transaction is made, or even when a credit card is swiped. With this new chip card sometimes a credit card is held in the card reader machine for more than 5 seconds, more than enough time for a hacker to gain access to the card holders bank account before lunch.
As we move into a more digital age, so does our currency: Bitcoin, founded in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, an alias of who’s identity is still not known today, gives its users a sense of privacy, security, and autonomy that credit cards, banks and other online services do not. For the first time with Bitcoin it is possible to transfer money without giving up users precious credit card information. The user has only to exchange usernames with whomever he or she choose to do business with and nothing else. Today some local neighborhood stores are beginning to accept bitcoin as a form of payment. This new convenience is one that many are beginning to grow accustomed to.
The future of Bitcoin is one that is very uncertain. Recent trends in Bitcoin’s stock have, however, shown its value to investors. Bitcoin’s value has also risen over the over the last year; on November 9th 2015 Bitcoin was valued at $308 and on November 9th 2016 Bitcoin rose to $725, move than $400 in one year. The steepest jump, however, has been from the $725 in November 16, 2016 to $903 on December 16, 2016; Bitcoin rose almost $200 since the election of Mr. Trump. Even, on the night of Presidential Election Bitcoin went up 4% when the NASDAQ and Dow Jones plummeted. Perhaps it is his talk on foreign policy that incentives the increase in the value of the stock. The President elect speaks of “Making America Great again” by focusing on removing illegal labor, placing high tariffs on China, and bringing back exported jobs. All these things benefit America by severing the boat load of money flowing out of America to foreign countries; removing Illegal immigrants will keep the millions of dollar illegals send home every year in our country, China will have a harder time selling under high tariffs and American made cars will become competitive to foreign ones, Keeping America car companies' profits in America, and developing countries will lose a lots of capital due to the jobs that return to the U.S. These 3 actions will each serve as a catalyst to unsteady changes in currency both Foreign and Domestic. These rough waves have Bitcoin user scrambling to put their money in a place that is not subject to regulation form either government so they won't fall victim to their native countries shift in currency value.
