03/17/2021 8:43 AM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 03/17/2021 8:48 AM
The price jump that Bitcoin has registered since December catches the attention of everyone in the financial world.
The most famous cryptocurrency cost around
$ 20,000 before the end of the year
and almost tripled in value in just over three months.
After having surpassed $ 61,000 this weekend, it then returned to a level of $ 55,000.
But, despite the volatility when compared to other financial assets ("traditional" currencies such as the dollar, the US stock market), this was the one that
gained the most in the last 10 years.
After ending 2020 with an increase of 170%
in the last three months of the year, to US $ 29,000,
Bitcoin crossed US $ 40,000 at the beginning of January
.
While it fell after that first rally, it
climbed to $ 60,000 at the end of February
, then fell again by nearly $ 10,000 to bounce back to an even higher peak that topped $ 61,000.
In this way,
the leading cryptocurrency grew at an average of 230% annually in the last decade.
The growth of Bitcoin (BTC) in recent months was preponderant, to the point of taking it to the center of the global financial scene.
Charlie Bilello, CEO of Compound Capital Advisors, shared
the BTC milestone through his social media.
In a comparison chart between different asset classes,
the flagship cryptocurrency grew by 20,037,142% from 2011 to 2021
, representing an average annual jump of 230%.
In the middle, it reached annual highs of 5,507% (2013) and lows of -73% (2018).
Bitcoin performance
In 8 of the last 10 years, bitcoin was the market leader, with exceptions in 2014 and 2018.
So far in 2021, cryptocurrency is by far the most outstanding asset
.
What is bitcoin
It is a financial asset that is not backed by any central bank in the world
, yet it moves across the globe in countless transactions per second.
It exists only on the internet
, but its effects in the real world are becoming more and more tangible.
Since he was born in 2008, the
Bitcoin started a revolution that experts say is just in its infancy.
This crypto is not tied to countries, and practically since its creation,
any internet user can buy it
.
But in Argentina, Bitcoin, Ethereum and other popular cryptocurrencies began to gain a foothold in the region
with the arrival of local trading and exchange platforms for digital assets.
One of the first cryptocurrency exchange platforms in the country was Argenbtc, which appeared in 2014. Several more were added to this, such as Ripio or SatoshiTango, as well as other applications that emerged in Latin American countries, such as Buda, from Chile;
and Bitso, from Mexico.
How it operates
Acquire a wallet:
you must have a system to store and operate bitcoin, called an electronic wallet, which contains pairs of cryptographic keys, that is, a public key and a private key.
Download the application
: the wallets can be used from computers or mobile devices as long as the application that has bitcoin is available to carry out the operations.
Make transactions:
you can carry out transactions with other people who have virtual wallets.
Galperín's tweet
The founder of Mercado Libre, Marcos Galperin, surprised with a tweet.
Unlike other technological benchmarks,
he questioned the future of BTC as a means of payment
.
The businessman commented on a journalistic note on Tuesday that spoke of one of the dark points of the cryptocurrency revolution:
its insatiable consumption of energy by the "mining" of the precious coins.
"
Without a doubt, one of the main negative points of the use of a cryptocurrency as a means of payment,"
said the leader of the main local unicorn.
Undoubtedly one of the main negative points of using a cryptocurrency as a means of payment.
https://t.co/98TKfWLMD0
- Marcos Galperin (@marcos_galperin) March 15, 2021
Later, Galperin clarified that
it is not "anti-crypto
."
I am not at all against it.
On the contrary, I think that bitcoin is a great asset as a store of value but it has strong cons as a means of payment.
It is true, as many point out in the answers that there are other cryptos that would not have this energy consumption problem.
- Marcos Galperin (@marcos_galperin) March 15, 2021
According to the University of Cambridge, which developed the “Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index”, a high-frequency measurement that measures “mining” energy consumption, it has already exceeded that of Argentina in a whole year.
With almost 130 terawatts per year, the bitcoin complex is about to exceed Sweden's total energy consumption.
China, the US and India
, which are the main miners in the world.
YN
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Bitcoin again broke its own record and reached $ 60,000