At the End of the Day, Crypto is Money
Perhaps it is something that just I overlook but I often forget what crypto actually represents. I definitely sometimes overthink it and am bombarded constantly by phrases such as "Bitcoin is freedom" and "Bitcoin is the future" and whatever else happens to appear on my Twitter timeline on any given day. While these sayings may contain some degree of truth, they don't ring as loud now as they did at the peak of the crypto market last year.
A co-worker recently asked me, "what is Bitcoin? Why would I want it?" To which I replied, "money." Amid trading, research, and analysis, I often forget that at the end of the day cryptocurrencies are simply money. Currency trading, by its nature, is extremely speculative, volatile, and not for the faint of heart. My elderly neighbor asked me in the spring of 2021 about Bitcoin and how she could get some. I explained to her that it is money but the price is constantly changing and could not recommend that she buy some because if the price were to go down, she would not be happy with me.
What I did do was send her a link to the Bitcoin white paper and a few introductory articles on how it works and about Bitcoin wallets. She did not buy any at the time, and I reminded her of our conversation the other day, pointing out the price of Bitcoin was around $60,000 at that time to now around $16,500. We have learned that cryptocurrencies are not really inflation resistant, in fact there are large outflows happening in an inflationary environment. But that does not mean people still are not using Bitcoin.
A few days ago, my car broke down rendering it inoperable. In dire need of a tow truck, I turned to my seldom used AAA membership. It was a cold, rainy night and I knew it would be a long wait. In about an hour, the driver showed up and promptly got to work. He was a nice guy, got the job done peomptly, and wanted to give him a tip. I did not have any cash, so I asked him if he would accept crypto. Much to my surprise, he had a wallet and knew all about it. As it turned out, he was from El Salvador and said "this is actually very good. I can send it to my family back home."
It was not a huge amount, a little more than $5 -- as I only keep small amounts in my mobile wallet. I wish I could have sent him more. But he told me that they use it a lot in his country, which I already knew but still listened to what he was saying.
This wasn't the first time I had ever sent crypto to someone, but it did make me recall that at the end of the day, crypto is money. It can be used for the exchange of goods and services. Well Bitcoin is certainly not worth what it was last year, it will always be worth something to someone. A trader or investor holding coins that fell from 60k to 16k obviously has a different perspective than someone sending money home to their family abroad.
