Though the Bitcoin cryptocurrency has been around for years, only recently has the mainstream taken interest, raising dozens of questions about what Bitcoin is, how and when it’s used, who created it and how the cryptocurrency market operates.
Good thing, here are SiliconANGLE we have our very own Bitcoin expert, Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins, who we fondly refer to as Dr. Bitcoin. He keeps a regular column providing market analysis on the cryptocurrency, and now he’s answering reader-submitted questions.
Every week, we will be featuring these public questions for Dr. Bitcoin to address, so as to help readers better understand Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency-related topics.
Dr. Bitcoin: No way. Google just announced plans for support. Investment in the space is up about 1000 percent year-over-year. The price of Bitcoin is up 720 percent year-over-year.
As Dr. Bitcoin pointed out, the Bitcoin bubble has yet to burst. Back in January, Google Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra let slip that its payments arm is figuring out a way to incorporate Bitcoin into its plans. Though there has yet to be an official announcement regarding the support for Bitcoin, the fact that a technology giant such as Google is looking into it means that there is still a future for Bitcoin.
Dr. Bitcoin: There are a lot of answers to that question. My opinion is that there needs to be more advancement in making user adoption easy. People don’t want to remember long bitcoin hash addresses and understand the protocol. Just like people don’t want to understand TCP/IP. They want to make money easier and better. Bitcoin promises that, but so far hasn’t delivered it to anything more than the alpha geek crowd.
Bitcoin’s value has significantly dropped from its $1,000 high near the end of 2013. Bitcoin’s value as of writing is now at $238 per Bitcoin and though it is no where near the $1,000 mark, it is still thriving which is a good sign for Bitcoin.
Dr. Bitcoin: Haven’t watched it yet, but I’ve heard good things. I tried to watch it on the plane, but they pre-empted it with Oscars coverage. It’s had a positive effect on people’s perceptions of Bitcoin, from what I see. It was a good way to attract laymen attention without being insulting to the early adopter community.
Spurlock is a documentarist known for the award-winning film “Super Size Me.” Now with his own show on CNN, Spurlock recently explored the world of bitcoin to test whether he could survive a week making transactions through bitcoin services only. Watch the full segment here.
Support our mission to keep content open and free by engaging with theCUBE community. Join theCUBE’s Alumni Trust Network, where technology leaders connect, share intelligence and create opportunities.
Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a dynamic ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands that reach 15+ million elite tech professionals. Our new proprietary theCUBE AI Video Cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.