Bitcoin – Currency of the year for 2013
Crypto-currency kind of took over the world in 2013. The first crypto-currency, Bitcoin which was created in 2009 took a massive jump with its value spiked to around $1200 earlier this month. Bitcoin was just awarded as 2013′s Best Currency of the Year by Global Post. It is not surprising given that we had everything else at the moment; Google, Facebook, eBay, they were already the market leaders in their areas. The only thing that was missing is an internet money. This is indeed awesome news for Bitcoin lovers and hopefully will give it a small boost in a positive way.
Here is what Global Post posted:
And the GlobalPost 2013 End of the Year Award for Best Currency goes to: Bitcoin.
2013 was the year that Bitcoin, a virtual currency traded anonymously via peer-to-peer exchanges, emerged from the shadows of crypto-e-commerce into the global spotlight.
This time last year, you’d probably never heard of Bitcoin. It was created in 2009, worth exactly nothing, and then traded at just a few cents on the dollar. At the beginning of 2013, it was still a niche currency, trading for between $10 and $20 and best-known as the currency that fueled illegal transactions on the Silk Road, a deep-web black market website where you could purchase drugs, guns, child pornography, and other things you don’t want on your credit card statement.
That’s all changed. Bitcoin has emerged as functional currency and has spawned a speculative investment market.
There were lots of reasons to get excited about Bitcoin in 2013. For people concerned about the state of surveillance, it offered anonymity. For people who looked around the world and saw fragile nation-states and failing economies, it promised an alternative means of exchange unbound by borders, regulations, or monetary policies. And for people looking for to make investments in a time of massive technological change, it seemed like the currency of the future: Commercial transactions increasingly happen online. Physical cash and the currencies based in it were starting to seem like outmoded relics.
Forget central banks and ineffective governments. Forget the National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
You can definitely say 2013 has been the year of the Bitcoin. Bitcoin made headlines on November 29 as the price of a single coin hit an all-time high where Mt. Gox recorded the high at $1,242 per coin. However, the electronic currency is still in its infancy with much room for improvement. I think it will continue growing because they fit an important niche in the global financial system and its potential is limitless.
