Bitcoin: The New Economic Frontier?
Mr. Stratocaster, Post-Doc
The digital crypto-currency Bitcoin opened the year 2016 with a worth of US$ 430.36. It closed at US$ 968.23, a valuation of 125%. It was one of the best applications of the year.
According to CoinDesk, this is the price evolution chart in 2016:
But it is not only the value that calls attention. There are other indicators associated with it that are constantly growing: 1) Number of transactions considered "unsuspected"; 2) Number of transactions using Bitcoin as currency; 3) Total number of Bitcoins in circulation; And 4) Liquidity estimates of Bitcoin, respectively:
Now, at the beginning of 2017, the value has just surpassed the level of US$ 1,100.00, with a value increase of more than 10% within the same week, according to First Global Credit ("#bitcoin closing in on $ 1100!"):
In terms of Internet searches (Google Trends), the increase in demand for Bitcoin (yellow) compared to the Dollar (blue), the Euro (green) and the Gold (red) is noticeable:
We will be monitoring this evolution, including trying to find out what will happen if large American and European financial conglomerates come together to create "Ecoin", an alternative to Bitcoin that is being considered behind the scenes in the international market.