How can you resist those fiery CryptoCurls?

Bitcoin has had an unbelievably successful year so far, despite the price only going up from around $950 to $2720 as of June 21, 2017. While many traditional investments would find a nearly 200% increase in 6 months astronomical, in the case of Bitcoin, I’m surprised that it is still so low based on the mind-blowing year we have had so far in terms of… adoption.

So far in 2017, we have seen Venezuelans escaping their hyper-inflating currency by mining Bitcoin, and Indians looking towards Bitcoin as a means to side-step their government’s push towards a more regulated Rupee. On a regulatory front, countries like Japan, Switzerland, and India, are drastically reducing the barrier to entry for their citizens, by doing things like allowing for the purchase of Bitcoin at all train stations in Switzerland, and the Japanese government regulating it as a currency and legalizing its use. The Swiss, known for international finance and Swiss bank accounts, have enabled Bitcoin to be purchased throughout the entire country at their train stations.

In the US, Montana is investing in Bitcoin mining plants, and states like Delaware and New Hampshire are legalizing it as well. Sadly, the US Federal Government is currently working hard on proposals that will make Bitcoin more difficult for Americans to use, in the name of combating terrorism and money laundering.

But let’s focus back on the positive regulations for a moment. Entire countries are building Bitcoin infrastructure to prepare their citizens for easy on-boarding, just in case Bitcoin happens to take off.

To think about this another way: entire countries, covering a combined population of over a billion people, are setting up infrastructure to make it easy for their citizens reach out for the financial life raft that is Bitcoin when the next global financial crisis occurs.

Moving on.

On the Bitcoin business side of things, the largest US exchange, Coinbase.com, has repeatedly been crashing from their massive increase in demand over the last year, signing up 40,000 accounts in one day. Bitonic.nl, the largest Dutch exchange, sold out of Bitcoins on multiple occasions in the past few months. Hardware wallets, like Ledger and Trezor, have been repeatedly sold out this summer. People don’t need hardware wallets to day trade Bitcoin. You buy a hardware wallet when you want a secure place for medium to long-term storage.

It seems like many governments don’t realize the gravity of regulating Bitcoin right now. Do they make it easy for their citizens to adopt this new technology, potentially making their citizens the wealthiest in the world (if this Bitcoin thing actually pans out) at the risk of losing control of the monetary policy in their country? Or, do they make it more difficult for their citizens to use, at the risk of impoverishing the country (if this Bitcoin thing pans out), but maintaining control over the money? Will their money even be valuable if Bitcoin becomes widely adopted? Which countries will thrive in the event that Bitcoin takes off? Which will be left in the dust because of a lack of vision? There are 7+ billion people in the world, and only 21 million whole Bitcoins (you can and should only buy fractions if you are interested in getting some for your first time).

The Swiss and Japanese governments are setting their country up for the first option, just in case. What is your country doing?

Additional Resources:

A millibitcoin (1 mBTC, .001 BTC) costs roughly $2.70 right now. You can be 1 in 210 million for $275, or 1 in 21 million for $2750.

USD Exchanges/Bitcoin banks: Coinbase, Uphold, Gemini

Euro Exchanges/Bitcoin bank: Xapo, Bitonic

Be your own bank on your phone or computer: Android — Mycelium, iOS- Breadwallet, from a computer — Electrum