so, you're interested in Bitcoin...

Bitcoin’s popularity has been consistently increasing over the past 10 years due to various reasons. These reasons include an extremely wide range of positive and negative use cases that Bitcoin has been utilized for. Initially, it famously became popular for its use on the platform Silk Road, where any two participants can transact with each other anonymously (mainly used for drug purchases)  and Bitcoin provided a way of paying without having to reveal bank account information or address to the other participant. After that, freelancers around the world started accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for online services. The way the Bitcoin network works provides a way for people with special computers, namely miners, to keep the network alive by dedicating those computers to the network, and receive Bitcoin as a reward for their participation. Due to the architecture of the network and its features, Bitcoin is being morphed into a much-improved alternative for physical gold. 

 

To understand why this is the case, we need to take a step back and understand what Bitcoin is in its simplest form. Bitcoin is a decentralized platform of trust that allows two interested participants to transact value without depending on a third party to approve, facilitate, or oversee the exchange of value. It is an open source protocol that is powered through mechanisms of incentivized mining; the process in which cryptographic computation verifies transactions. No one owns or controls Bitcoin, the only reason it is alive, is that the way it’s built incentivises people to keep it running. 

Going back to the gold comparison -which I think overly simplifies the true power that Bitcoin holds but still a good place to start nevertheless-, here are some points to consider:

Just like how gold went through different stages to get to what it is and what it stands for today, BTC is going through infrastructural development that would allow it to be a revolutionary replacement for gold. Moving towards an even more digital future, it would make sense that value is reserved in digital format, rather than a precious metal in the ground.