Ping!
Doesn't sound like a basis for a reserve currency to me.
The invention of bitcoin has been likened to the invention of the steam engine.
Even though there will be only 21 million bitcoins, each is divisible into 100,000,000 parts.
Bitcoin is a deflationary currency, which is the enemy of big government and the modern welfare-warfare state.
Bitcoin have value because people deem it to have value, just like they deem other items to have value, like precious metals.
When is the fed going to go after the bitcoin users?
After all, any real threat to the fed’s fiat currency will surely be dealt with in the most brutal manner possible.
And don’t forget, there’s plenty here on FR that have a stake in maintaining the status quo (ie: control) by hanging paper and pushing electronic psuedo currency, not to mention continuing to gamble on the market with fake fed dollars.
The popularity of one currency over another in international trade is dependent on debt. Remember debt spelled backwards is investment, and countries that have a lot of safe and profitable investment opportunities find their currency in demand. The US is still the country with the best investment opportunities and that is why the dollar is still king around the world.
Anybody want to bet their life savings on a venture in China? Brazil? India? Russia? How about Bitcoin? There isn't even a price system for Bitcoin. If I want to buy something with Bitcoin I have to convert it into some other currency to determine the real price. Most of the time I even have to buy another currency first and pay with that. Depending on how we play the definition game, Bitcoin isn't even a currency. Bitcoin is really just a distributed ledger system, a kind of virtual safety deposit box. That's all it is.
OK, so everybody wail and rant and throw a tantrum. Tell me how I'm going to be left behind ...blah blah blah. I know Bitcoin is an emotional topic for a lot of folks.
Bitcoin is a scam and a ponzi scheme and is burdened with extreme counterparty risk.
“:Could Bitcoin Become Major Reserve Currency?”
No.
sure, why not? anytime an IDEA like bitcoin can gain 80% “value” in a week like it just did or quadruple its value” in a 3 month period like it did a couple of years ago and then completely crash again after a while sounds like the perfect reserve currency to me! After all, if you don’t like it’s “value” today, then just wait a short while and it’ll have a radically new “value” a short time later. But then again, I COULD be wrong; after all, I’m far from an expert on such matters.
I think a far more likely scenario, that will not be made public, is for “private currencies” to be created, that skirt all the banking and national laws and taxes. Its drawback is that it is much slower than virtual transactions.
It follows many of the rules of money laundering, except that no money is involved in crossing borders. A courier arriving in a country presents a code to a given person, then later, they receive a delivery of the money they have requested.