Bitcoin hits $16,000 - it's time to mine
The most popular form of cryptocurrency currently on the market, the Bitcoin has recently skyrocketed, reaching an all-time high of $18,000. The value has since dipped a bit to almost $16,000, but judging by the trend in the last few months, it might still go up. If you're interested in trying to make a quick buck, now's the best time to start mining for some Bitcoins, but you might have a hard time having a place where you can actually spend them.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the name, Bitcoin is a form of cryptocurrency; it's a kind of virtual money that you can use to buy stuff with (in the stores that accept this kind of payments) or that you can turn into real money. The best thing about Bitcoin is that it isn't backed by banks or countries, which means that it exists outside the influence of governments and it's much more difficult to track. Of course, once you convert it into real money this changes, but if you buy stuff directly with it, you will be pretty invisible.
When it was first created, all the way back in 2010, a Bitcoin was worth less than a cent; however, despite the expert's predictions, the cryptocurrency grew steadily to about $1,000 in 2014, stabilizing at somewhere around $600 last autumn. Moreover, since then, Bitcoins have been on a fast-rising course, reaching $3,200 in the middle of 2017 and completely skyrocketed in the last couple of months, going as high as $18,000 earlier today. I'll be honest and admit that economy isn't my strong suit, but in case you're wondering what fuels this rise, most analysts are saying that the growth is actually building itself as small investors don't want to miss the opportunity to make some money and keep buying Bitcoins. With a 600% value rise in six months, it's easy to see why many people find it appealing.
However, one of the biggest issues caused by this constant fluctuation in prices is actually being able to buy stuff with Bitcoins. The cryptocurrency is only supported by a very limited number of stores and one of the major players on the virtual market, Steam, has recently announced that it's no longer accepting Bitcoins. Fortunately, others like Microsoft, NewEgg, Dell, Overstock, Monoprix, etc. still take Bitcoins, but most of them only allow transactions from the U.S. Furthermore, if the value keeps going up, I'm curious how many of them will still want Bitcoins, given how it's very likely for the currency to have a big fall at some point in the future. On the other hand, the largest Bitcoin operator, Coinbase, and other similar companies are probably making money through their ears at the moment and register huge profits from transaction fees alone.
If you're interested in taking advantage of this price surge, it's probably a bit too late to start purchasing Bitcoins, as the profit that you make won't be as a huge as it would have been if you would have bought the cryptocurrency a few months or even weeks ago. However, you can always mine Bitcoins or use other legal tactics to obtain them and then either keep them as an investment, which would be great if the price surges past the current $16,000 or buy as much stuff as you can with the currency now when it's at the peak of its value.
