Bitcoin needs Positive Public Awareness to Survive

By: Steven Rich, MBA

Bitcoin is a fairly new trendy virtual currency (unregulated internet money) which can be purchased with and traded for dollars, Euro, yen and other global currencies. Currency exchanges denote the bitcoin as “BTC”. The biggest difference between virtual currency (like bitcoin) and physical currency (like dollars or yen) is no “physical manifestation of Bitcoin”. This means there are no physical currencies as objects to look at or feel.

The Phenomena of Bitcoin

The Boston Globe newspaper on October 12, 2017 (six days ago) ran a story titled, “Betting on Bitcoin” reporting that the price of Bitcoin rose by 700% during the past 12 months and 1,800% over the past 24 months. That’s an incredible jump in price! Bitcoin as a single unit is now worth 3 times than an ounce of gold.

On the same day, CNN reported, “Bitcoin surges above $5,000 to new record high”.

Last May, Investopedia published an article about how investing in $100 Bitcoins in 2011 is now “worth $482,666.67” which would make it over $500,000 today. Imagine if someone asked you to invest $100 in Bitcoin in 2011. Would you have made the small investment?

The Negative Public Publicity about Bitcoin

In spite of these incredible profits in just six years, Bitcoin suffers from a negative public awareness generated by bad media publicity.

As recent as last October 7, Blockchain Daily News reported that global public perception of Bitcoin is that of: “Financial crimes such as money laundering, fraud, and financing terrorism” requiring laws and regulations countering financing of terrorism and anti-money laundering. Source

Last March, CalvinAyre (the world’s largest Bitcoin online gambling website) reported a “big missing piece” blocking Bitcoin’s global acceptance. That being a lack of public acceptance.

Negative publicity about Bitcoin has dominated the public media for years. 2016, was no exception.

Forbes magazine on January 18, 2016 in an article titled, “Something Rotten in the State Of Bitcoin” claimed that “Bitcoin is a criminal’s paradise”. The article further went on to assert that “Bitcoin is popular with child pornographers, drug dealers, and extortionists”. Source

Coindesk on March 28, 2016 claimed that “Bitcoin suffered from numerous negative perceptions” by being “automatically linked to thoughts of drugs, money laundering and terrorist financing”. Source

Bitcoin magazine on September 9, 2016 published, “Some Economists Really Hate Bitcoin” reporting that “the vast majority of economists” had a “serious distaste for Bitcoin” claiming it had no future and was “pure evil”. The online magazine even stated that Paul Krugman, who won the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics, called “Bitcoin a scam”.

The Financial Times in a story published on December 29, 2016 condemned Bitcoin as a “digital currency that has attracted drug dealers and tax evaders…along with assorted lawbreakers”. Source

Bitcoin’s Bad Publicity before 2016

Forbes magazine again condemned Bitcoin in an article published on December 28, 2015 as “a way to buy illegal drugs”. Source

Forbes even criticized Bitcoin in an article published on July 18, 2014 about: “Bitcoin’s somewhat seedy reputation has been cemented by the seizure of Silk Road (the now defunct online drug store), and the bankruptcy of the Mt. Gox exchange”. Source

Even the U.S. government’s FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), which is an agency of its Treasury Department, published a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) about Bitcoin in July of 2014. Source

Back in 2011, the Stanford University Press published an opinion titled, “Bitcoins Are Not Widely Accepted” claiming only a small group of online merchants accepted Bitcoins. Source

Public Perception Defines Bitcoin Price

On October 12, 2017 (just 6 days ago) Bitconnect published an article titled, “How is the price of cryptocurrency defined?” The answer is: “Perception of value is what ultimately gives it value”. Source

The Future for Bitcoin

Since public awareness eventually defines Bitcoin’s price, the future for Bitcoin lays with increasing positive public perception.

Even Forbes dedicated an article about how insiders were trying to improve Bitcoin’s image in December of 2015 titled, “How We're Trying To Change The Public Perception Of Bitcoin”. In this article, one insider claimed that those operating legitimate Bitcoin businesses pointed out that improving the public’s awareness of Bitcoin depended upon “trustworthiness and terminology” (changing the terminologies associated with Bitcoin into more positive terms). The insider found that using “the word Blockchain instead of Bitcoin” resulted in positive reactions from the public. Source [Note: a blockchain is defined as an open virtual ledger efficiently recording transactions between two parties on the internet in a verifiable and permanent manner.]

Coindesk in March of 2016 suggested that Bitcoin’s bad reputation was “based on misinformation rather than fact”. Coindesk suggested promoting more positive facts to counter all of the bad public perceptions. Source

DCE Brief suggested back on April 12, 2016 in an online article titled, “Recreating Bitcoin’s Reputation” to increase “public awareness of the benefits of digital currency”. DCE also recommended when finding people who have negative perceptions of Bitcoin to challenge them with “relevant data”. Source

Conclusion

In spite of reaching an all-time high price just six days ago, Bitcoin needs positive public awareness to survive.

Sure, sales are also at an all-time high. But, like every “gold rush”, eventually the prices fall. The smart Bitcoin sellers and trade exchanges need to look to the future rather than spending all their time taking orders for buys, sells, and trades.

Eventually, this new trend may run out of gas because of the negative perception the vast public has about Bitcoin. If these cynical potential buyers remain suspicious, Bitcoin may die along with many other online trends like “Pokemon Go” which launched in July of 2016, Source. Three months later, ABC News declared Pokemon Go practically dead because of lack of customer confidence. Source

Customer confidence is what Bitcoin needs to attract new customers. The fastest way to achieve that is to promote positive public awareness.

COPYRIGHT © 2017 by STEVEN RICH, MBA

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