Joe Rogan interviews the Bitcoin Buddha, Andreas Antonopoulos, Chief Security Officer for Blockchain, and author of The Internet of Money:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wwbzwUXfgc

Get Antonopoulos’ book The Internet of Money here.

From Charles Hugh Smith’s OfTwoMinds Musings Report #52 (24 Dec, 2016):

Market Musings: Bitcoin

I’ve known about bitcoin (BTC) for a number of years, and have referenced it as a non-state controlled currency, but I only began accumulating it earlier this year.

I wrote a summary of why BTC is here to stay and why it matters in June: An Everyman’s Guide To Understanding Cryptocurrencies.

Interestingly, but unsurprisingly, new cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum soared on investor enthusiasm and then settled back to Earth as the practical limits outweighed future potential.

Ethereum went from $6 to $14 and has since cycled back to $6.

Bitcoin has doubled from $450 in May to around $900 today, and while it will likely retrace,  the probability that BTC could reach crazy valuations in a global currency crisis is high in my view.

How crazy?  How does $17,000 per BTC sound? How could BTC rise from $900 to $17,000? All that would be required is for 1/10th of 1% of current global financial assets to move into BTC.  That razor-thin slice would push the value of BTC to $17,000.

There can only be 21 million BTC created, and millions of those have been lost to hard-drive crashes, etc. in the early years, when BTC was sub-$1.

This chart of BTC is for the past year so the crazy spike over $1,000 in November 2013 doesn’t even appear here. (The proximate cause of the spike was the Cyprus bank bail-in panic.)

BTC has a history of spikes and crashes, and this pattern may well continue. That said, note the uptrend over the past year as the number of transactions has soared. (The spike over $700 was triggered by the “halving” of BTC issued to those hosting the BTC blockchain.)

Unlike other cryptocurrencies, BTC is already in practical use. I have paid overseas translators and editors in BTC, and the transaction fees are very low compared to PayPal or other international payment protocols.

BTC surges when people begin to fear their money will be bailed-in during banking crises or confiscated by the state, or simply voided, as is occurring in India.

Bitcoin is unique in not being controlled by any state. Users and hosts dictate the direction of BTC.

Disclosure: I want to be clear that I own a position in BTC, so I am not a disinterested voice. I think BTC offers unique characteristics along with its high volatility. Its lack of history and high volatility make it unsuitable for many portfolios.

One reason why I am bullish on BTC is the user base is still negligible. None of my friends or family own a single BTC. Do you know anyone personally who owns BTC as an investment or payment tool? Everyone has heard about it but very few own any BTC.

As we all know, the vast majority of financial assets are owned by the super-wealthy, corporations and institutions (insurance companies, pension funds, etc.) If the major players start adding BTC to their portfolios, this could push BTC into a new realm.

On the other hand, maybe BTC will fall 25% or even 50%. Investors have to be aware that volatility in BTC is unlikely to go away. That said, the trendline is what ultimately matters.