When it comes to buying bitcoin, its price shouldn’t be the only thing we’re looking for. We give you eight reasons to buy Bitcoin that don’t have anything to do with price.
One of the first things people look at when buying bitcoin is its current price. This is understandable, as a lot of people use bitcoin for trading. However, many of them make the common mistake of focusing too much on how the price of BTC moves. You might hear statements like:
“I missed out on buying before the price went up. I’ll just wait for it to go down before I go in.”
“I’ll only buy at [insert random price].”
This kind of price-centric approach scares a lot of would-be, first-time Bitcoiners from getting Bitcoin. Sometimes, even those with experience with bitcoin trading get spooked.
Because of that, we want to give you another perspective when it comes to buying Bitcoin. Actually, we’re giving you eight. We hope to convince you to see Bitcoin as something more than an asset to trade. We want to help you stop worrying about the price too much. (Bonus benefit: You’ll get a lot less stressed along the way.)
We want you to see Bitcoin as…
1. Inflationary Hedge
An inflationary hedge, simply put, is an investment that you make as a plan B(itcoin) in case another asset you hold, like cash, becomes devalued too fast because of inflation or other circumstances. With various bailouts around the world, the increase in the global money supply is expected to drive more inflation. As a result, the $100 you have right now might buy fewer goods tomorrow. (Of course, there are other factors in play, like the so-called Cantillon effect, but that’s a discussion for another day.)
Not so with Bitcoin. The number of Bitcoins that will ever exist in the world is capped at 21 million (well, a bit less than that, but we digress). At some point in the future, the demand for Bitcoin will outweigh the supply, as more people will use it, especially right now when digital payments are more important than ever. This makes Bitcoin a good option for an inflationary hedge.
But don’t just take our word for it. Major media outlets like Reuters and Forbes seem to think so as well.
2. Application and Use Cases
Cash is dirty. Using paper bills is not only a very 20th-century thing to do but also a potential carrier of the coronavirus and other bacteria. And in these global pandemic times, digital payments take center stage. With new apps and payment options for cryptocurrencies, more of us are starting to use bitcoin to pay for breakfast in the mornings or send money to our friends or loved ones.
As people become more adept with the technology that makes paying with Bitcoin possible, it is highly likely that more of us will explore more purposes for using it. When even fast-food chains like Burger King start accepting Bitcoin, you know there’s going to be more progress.
3. Global Alternative Investment
When it comes to considering which assets you want to get into for future gains, few are as global and accessible as Bitcoin. It is the rare asset class where people from various walks of life can get into, just add Internet access. (Sometimes, you don’t even need it, actually.)
Bitcoin does not discriminate whether you’re on your yacht in the Bahamas or riding the public trains to work in Delhi or Manila. You can even buy or sell bitcoin while riding that train or yacht. Unlike many asset classes that ask for a lot of qualifications or set various limits, Bitcoin doesn’t care.
4. High-Performing Asset
While you look at Bitcoin’s price as it falls by $100 or $200 today, then rises by $300 tomorrow (crosses fingers), several people make it their life’s work to look at prices all-day and usually see the bigger picture. Many trading veterans bought Bitcoin at $7,000 in January, endured the fall to $4,000 in March, and ended April, saying that Bitcoin is this year’s best-performing asset. And that’s just for 2020.
Let’s look at it from a yearly perspective. Out of the past five years (2015 to 2019), Bitcoin ended the year at a higher price than the beginning for four out of those five years. Yes, we did promise to not make it about the price earlier in this article, but what we are pointing out here is long-term performance. Set your mindset on a low time preference and HODL.
5. Institutional Investor Participation
The Bitcoin market landscape this year looks nothing like three years ago. With more sophisticated Bitcoin offerings around the world, it’s a more mature market and one that still offers immense growth potential.
Fidelity Investments recently said that out of 800 institutional investors from the US and Europe surveyed this year, more than 280 of them already hold Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency investments. This should give you more reason to believe that Bitcoin is here to stay.
6. Financial Inclusion
But don’t be discouraged by the entry of many big companies into Bitcoin. This is because Bitcoin is a more inclusive financial system, both in terms of entering it and staying in it. You encounter significantly lower fixed costs when you buy, use, or send Bitcoin, compared to the prevailing traditional banking system.
For many people whose doors to the banking system are shut for one reason or another, Bitcoin offers an open window to be part of a new and better financial system. And with a more mature cryptocurrency ecosystem, where crypto-financial services such as savings, lending, and staking have started to emerge, you’ll also have an incentive to stay.
7. Trader-Friendly Asset
Aside from being inclusive, another thing that Bitcoin represents is being accessible 24/7. While traditional markets have office hours that likely run the same as your work hours, with Bitcoin, the marketplace is open 24/7. You can go in and out of it at the time you’re most convenient to participate.
What makes this more compelling is that with the rapidly expanding options on crypto trading platforms such as Binance, you can choose to trade against many kinds of assets, including local currencies and other cryptocurrencies.
8. Decentralization
Ultimately, amid all these transactions, investments, and use cases, buying Bitcoin is an act of using and supporting a better future for the world’s financial system. It shows a way forward to a more inclusive way of using money worldwide. It represents the power of technology to rethink the way we look at money and to give more freedom to it by taking away the many institutions and middlemen that complicate it.
In the end, when you buy Bitcoin, you’re buying more than an asset. You’re buying the future.
