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With three days left until the end of 2021, the Ethereum network and its native token ether have had a phenomenal year as ether has increased more than 450% in value in 12 months. 145 days ago, on August 5, the Ethereum network implemented the London hard fork and since that day, 1,283,226 ether worth close to $5 billion has been burned.

Around four months ago, Ethereum implemented the London upgrade which added a number of new rule-sets to the chain. The most transformative included EIP-1559, an Ethereum rule-set improvement that created a new fee rate scheme allowing the network to burn a portion of ether.

The algorithm results in the base fee per gas increasing when blocks are above the gas target, and decreasing when blocks are below the gas target. The base fee per gas is burned, EIP-1559s description notes.

As of today, December 28, 2021, 1.28 million ether has been destroyed by the burn process, which equates to close to $5 billion in USD value using todays ETH/USD exchange rate. The amount of value burned to-date is 31.57% higher than what had been burned on November 24, when the burn rate crossed 1 million ether. Estimates indicate that theres 118,926,664 ether in circulation today.

The biggest burner has been the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Opensea as it has burned 134,126 ether worth $498 million across 9.5 million transactions. Traditional ether transfers by network participants burned 122,365 ether since August 5, which equates to $483 million using todays ETH exchange rates. The decentralized exchange (dex) Uniswap v2 has burned 112,159 ether worth $457 million.

The stablecoin tether (USDT), used on Ethereum, has burned 67,932 ether worth $268 million and Uniswap v3 has burned 42,020 ether worth $167 million. The top five ETH burners are followed by Metamask (29.2K ether burned), USDC (25.9K ether burned), Axie Infinity (16.7K ether burned), Sushiswap (15.1K ether burned), and the Opensea Registry (14.8K ether burned).

What do you think about the 1.2 million ether burned since August 5? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Jamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Ethereum Has Burned 1.2 Million ETH in 4 Months, Close to $5 Billion in Ether Destroyed Technology Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

Indian legal experts reportedly say that it is too late to ban cryptocurrency despite calls for a complete crypto ban by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), an affiliate of the nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, also passed a resolution calling for an outright ban on crypto. Meanwhile, the Indian government is reworking the crypto bill before resubmitting it to parliament.

The Indian government is under pressure from the countrys central bank and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) to completely ban cryptocurrency.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said at its recent meeting of the central board of directors that cryptocurrency must be fully banned and that a partial ban will not work. The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), an affiliate of the nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, also passed a resolution calling for a ban on cryptocurrency.

While the government has not made an official announcement whether it will ban or regulate crypto, legal experts reportedly said that it is too late to ban cryptocurrency.

They explained that the governments cryptocurrency legislation will have to be balanced. This will not only ensure that investors will not be hurt but also prevent crypto from growing uncontrollably, which could threaten Indias foreign exchange reserves and disrupt its economy.

L. Badri Narayanan, executive partner at Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys, was quoted as saying:

The government is viewing cryptocurrencies as investment instruments and plans to regulate them. Under income tax rules, cryptocurrencies are likely to be treated as assets and attract capital gains. GST and TDS are other areas where the position of law is not clear.

The legal experts reportedly added that comprehensive regulation is needed. They further noted that Indias cryptocurrency approach should not be compared to developed countries due to differences in foreign exchange regulations.

Narayanan also explained that it would be challenging for regulators to stop Indians from sending crypto payments overseas, elaborating:

You cannot take money out of India without permission. We are a foreign exchange-regulated market and that means we cannot take certain decisions like developed countries that have a free market.

Under FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act), the cross-border movement of goods and services is classified as import/export, the publication conveyed.

Recently, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist Gita Gopinath said banning cryptocurrencies would pose practical challenges, given their decentralized nature. She emphasized the need for a global policy on cryptocurrency.

The Indian cryptocurrency bill that was listed for consideration in the winter session of parliament was not taken up, and the government is reportedly reworking the bill.

Do you think its too late to ban crypto in India? Let us know in the comments section below.

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Legal Experts Say It's Too Late to Ban Crypto, India Needs Comprehensive Regulation Regulation Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) plans to obtain information from commercial banks pertaining to some money transfers between private individuals, including clients trading cryptocurrency. The measure is likely to affect online crypto exchangers which the regulator accuses of conducting illegal operations.

As part of efforts to clamp down on certain transactions it considers illegal, the Bank of Russia is going to seek additional data from financial institutions processing transfers between individuals. The move concerns a number of platforms using accounts registered in the name of dummy persons such as online bookmakers and websites providing crypto trading services, local media revealed.

The Russian business news portal RBC reported Monday that the regulator had sent banks a new reporting form for transactions. According to the initial report, the CBR intends to request information on money transfers between Russians, including the personal data of the senders and the recipients of the funds.

In a press release quoted by Prime, the monetary authority later clarified that the measure does not imply imposing total control over transactions of individuals but is aimed at identifying risk areas associated with the use of payment cards and wallets issued to fictitious individuals by cryptocurrency exchangers, online casinos and unscrupulous participants in the financial market for settlements with Russian citizens.

Bank of Russia further emphasized it wants to collect anonymized data from banking institutions providing payment services to individuals only when their platforms might be used for illegal operations. It also insisted it does not plan to introduce new reporting procedures for all transactions, and explained it meant specific cases where large amounts of money are transferred in multiple transactions within hours to the same recipient.

The CBR says such transactions are clearly not ordinary payments between private citizens and small businesses. The central bank added that when transactions meeting certain criteria are observed, it could ask for additional data from the banks registers but insisted it would not request information that could be used to identify individual customers.

Russian authorities are now discussing proposals to comprehensively regulate cryptocurrencies as many related activities, including trading and mining, remain outside the scope of the law On Digital Financial Assets which went into force in January. In talks held in a working group at the State Duma, Bank of Russia has reportedly maintained its long-standing position against allowing the free circulation of bitcoin and the like in the country, as well as their use in payments.

The monetary authority is also exploring options to prevent Russians from investing in crypto assets, including blocking card payments to certain recipients such as coin trading platforms. Thats despite estimates in its recently published Financial Stability Overview for the second and third quarter of 2021 suggesting that the annual volume of digital currency transactions made by Russian residents amounts to around $5 billion.

Do you think Russias central bank will collect only anonymized data for transactions between Russian crypto users? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchenss quote: Being a writer is what I am, rather than what I do. Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Bank of Russia to Collect Data on Crypto-Related Transactions Between Individuals Finance Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

The pro-bitcoin U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis has reportedly unveiled her plan to introduce a comprehensive crypto bill that will cover everything from how cryptocurrencies are taxed and categorized to consumer protections. The bill will also propose creating a new entity to oversee the digital asset market.

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis is reportedly preparing to introduce a comprehensive crypto bill next year. The Republican senator from Wyoming explained that the bill will cover everything from how cryptocurrencies are taxed and categorized to consumer protections, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

The bill will provide clear guidance on which asset class a particular asset belongs to and will also establish a framework to regulate stablecoins, a senior aide for the senator told the news outlet. In addition, it will propose creating a new entity to oversee the crypto market that will operate under the joint jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Lummis is a member of the Senate Banking Committee. She has repeatedly said that bitcoin is a great store of value. The senator recently confirmed that she owns about five bitcoins and has no plan to sell them. Her BTC is part of a broad portfolio that includes her familys cattle ranches.

In October, Lummis said in Congress: Thank God for bitcoin, and other non-fiat currencies, that transcends the irresponsibility of governments, including our own.

Several bills have already been introduced in Congress with the intention of regulating the crypto sector. In August, U.S. Rep. Don Beyer introduced the Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act. The bill provides the SEC with authority over digital asset securities and the CFTC with authority over digital assets.

In April, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill introduced by pro-bitcoin Congressman Patrick McHenry which requires the SEC and the CFTC to establish a working group focused on digital assets.

In August, two U.S. lawmakers urged the chairman of the SEC and the acting chairman of the CFTC to establish a joint working group for the regulation of crypto assets. Other efforts to regulate the crypto industry include the Digital Commodity Exchange Act of 2020 (DCEA) and the Crypto-Currency Act of 2020.

What do you think about Senator Lummis planning to introduce a comprehensive cryptocurrency bill? Let us know in the comments section below.

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Bitcoin price history 2013-2021 | Statista

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CoinDesk. (December 14, 2021). Bitcoin (BTC) price per day from October 2013 to December 14, 2021 (in U.S. dollars) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved December 24, 2021, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/326707/bitcoin-price-index/

CoinDesk. "Bitcoin (BTC) price per day from October 2013 to December 14, 2021 (in U.S. dollars)." Chart. December 14, 2021. Statista. Accessed December 24, 2021. https://www.statista.com/statistics/326707/bitcoin-price-index/

CoinDesk. (2021). Bitcoin (BTC) price per day from October 2013 to December 14, 2021 (in U.S. dollars). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: December 24, 2021. https://www.statista.com/statistics/326707/bitcoin-price-index/

CoinDesk. "Bitcoin (Btc) Price per Day from October 2013 to December 14, 2021 (in U.S. Dollars)." Statista, Statista Inc., 14 Dec 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/326707/bitcoin-price-index/

CoinDesk, Bitcoin (BTC) price per day from October 2013 to December 14, 2021 (in U.S. dollars) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/326707/bitcoin-price-index/ (last visited December 24, 2021)

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Bitcoin price history 2013-2021 | Statista

On this page we present a bitcoin return calculator. Enter dates in a range from July 17, 2010 until yesterday and we will estimate the annual and total return on any money invested in bitcoin. Enter a starting investment value and the bitcoin tool will guess the investment value on the final date.

Optionally, you can also adjust the bitcoin price return and final price for inflation. We use the CPI-U index, interpolated or extrapolated to find a bitcoin investment's value on your investment date.

The bitcoin return calculator uses data from Bitfinex via Quandl as well as historical bitcoin return data from Bitcoinity.

There are only a few options when using the bitcoin return calculator, but any small adjustments can have major effects on your results.

The bitcoin return calculator uses data from BitFinex and Bitcoinity. Wherever the Bitcoinity data includes multiple exchanges, we used the average daily bitcoin price on all exchanges. For the three gaps in the dataset 6/21/2011 - 6/22/2011, 6/24/2011 - 6/25/2011, and 6/27/2011 - 7/04/2011 we interpolated the available data to backfill bitcoin prices on those dates.

If there is both Bitcoinity Data and BitFinex data, the BitFinex data takes precedence. In practice, this means the recent data all comes from BitFinex.

Note that bitcoin markets don't "close" in the sense that a stock market might. Bitcoin closing prices are as reported by an exchange. On top of reporting differences, different exchanges may have different bitcoin prices for each date. Also, bitcoin can be extremely volatile intraday; note that the prices internal to our tool may be 10% or more different than the prices paid by some market participants in the same 24-hour period.

We believe the trends are correct for the tool, and it's a reasonably good guess at how a typical bitcoin investor would have performed between two dates. However, this tool is for informational or research purposes only. Do your own due diligence.

The bitcoin return results quoted should in no way be taken as advice on whether to invest in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies, as an asset class, have demonstrated more volatility than any of the other investments we've featured on this site in calculator format. (See, for example, the Ethereum return calculator and Litecoin return calculator.)

For bitcoins, the time of day any bitcoin was bought or sold makes investor performance vary wildly. As we argued in the 2017 bitcoin return piece, bitcoin is closer to a speculation than an investment.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency investors have had extremely remarkable runs as well as harrowing drops. We'll repeat our advice: for the vast majority of investors, we recommend a regular asset allocation and passively managed index funds. However, if you do the research and still feel bitcoin makes sense in your portfolio, hopefully our calculator goes some of the way to easing your research burden.

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Some experts believe bitcoin is due for a sharp decline in the coming months.

The cryptocurrency surged to a record high of almost $69,000 in November. It's now sitting below $50,000, down almost 30% from its peak. Wall Street wisdom defines bear markets as a decline of 20% or more from recent highs, but it's worth noting bitcoin is notorious for its volatility.

Carol Alexander, professor of finance at Sussex University, said she expects bitcoin to tank to as low as $10,000 in 2022, virtually wiping out all of its gains in the past year and a half.

"If I were an investor now I would think about coming out of bitcoin soon because its price will probably crash next year," Alexander said. Her bearish call hinges on the notion that bitcoin "has no fundamental value" and serves as more of a "toy" than an investment.

Alexander warned of history repeating itself. In 2018, bitcoin tumbled close to $3,000 after climbing to a high of nearly $20,000 a few months earlier. The cryptocurrency's backers often say that things are different this time, as more institutional investors are jumping into the market.

"Without question, Bitcoin's price chart appears to track many historical asset bubbles and busts and is carrying a 'this time it's different' narrative just like other bubbles," said Todd Lowenstein, chief equity strategist of Union Bank's private banking arm.

A common investment case for bitcoin is that it serves as a hedge against rising inflation caused by government stimulus. Lowenstein said there's a risk that a more hawkish Federal Reserve may take the wind out of bitcoin's sails.

"Goldilocks conditions are ending and the liquidity tide is receding which will disproportionately harm overvalued asset classes and speculative areas of the market including cryptocurrencies," he said.

Still, not everyone is convinced the crypto party will end in 2022. "The biggest risk factor, namely [quantitative tapering] by the Fed, has been decided and likely priced in already," said Yuya Hasegawa, crypto market analyst at Japanese digital asset exchange Bitbank.

A big development crypto investors are on the lookout for in 2022 is approval of the first spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States.

Although the Securities and Exchange Commission greenlighted the launch of ProShares' Bitcoin Strategy ETF this year, the product tracks bitcoin futures contracts rather than giving investors direct exposure to the cryptocurrency itself.

Futures are financial derivatives that oblige an investor to buy or sell an asset at a later date and for an agreed-upon price. By tracking futures prices instead of bitcoin itself, experts say, ProShares' ETF could be too risky for novice traders, many of whom are invested in crypto.

"The Bitcoin Futures ETF that launched this year has been widely regarded as not very retail-friendly given the high costs involved of rolling over contracts which amounts to around 5-10%," said Vijay Ayyar, vice president of corporate development and global expansion at crypto exchange Luno.

"Increasing pressure/evidence points to a Bitcoin Spot ETF being approved in 2022 mainly because the market is now large and mature enough to support one."

Grayscale Investments has filed to convert its bitcoin trust, which is the world's biggest bitcoin fund, into a spot ETF. And there are plenty of other bitcoin ETF applications waiting in the wings.

As the crypto industry has evolved, bitcoin's share of the market has waned, with other digital currencies like ethereum playing a much larger role. This is something analysts expect to continue into next year, as investors increasingly look to smaller pockets of crypto in the hope of big gains.

Sussex University's Alexander flagged ethereum, solana, polkadot and cardano as coins to watch in 2022.

"As retail investors begin to realize the dangers of trading bitcoin, especially on unregulated venues, they will switch to other coins belonging to blockchains which actually serve an essential and fundamental role in decentralized finance," she said.

"This time next year I predict that bitcoin's market cap will be half the combined cap of smart contract coins" like ethereum and solana, Alexander added, "or even less."

Emerging crypto developments such as decentralized finance and decentralized autonomous organizations are "likely to be the highest growth areas of crypto," said Bryan Gross, network steward at crypto platform ICHI. DeFi aims to recreate traditional financial products without middlemen, while DAOs can be thought of as a new type of internet community.

Total money deposited into DeFi services surpassed $200 billion for the first time this year, and experts project demand to grow further in 2022.

DeFi is part of a broader trend in tech known as Web3. The Web3 movement calls for a new, decentralized iteration of the internet encompassing blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies such as nonfungible tokens. It has already found skeptics in the likes of Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey, however.

Regulators flexed their muscles on cryptocurrencies this year, with China completely banning all crypto-related activities and U.S. authorities cracking down on certain aspects of the market. Analysts widely expect regulation to be a key issue in 2022 for the sector.

"2022 will be a big year on the regulatory front, no doubt," Luno's Ayyar said. "The interest from various governments, and especially the U.S., to bring regulation into the crypto space has not been higher."

Ayyar said he expects to see some clarification on the legal "gray zone" of cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin and ethereum, which the SEC has said are not securities.

Blockchain company Ripple is locking horns with the U.S. watchdog over XRP, a cryptocurrency it is closely associated with. The SEC alleges XRP is an unregistered security and that $1.3 billion worth of the tokens were illegally sold by Ripple and two of its executives. For its part, Ripple says XRP should not be considered a security.

Experts say another key area regulators will likely focus on next year is stablecoins. These are tokens whose value is tied to the price of existing assets like the U.S. dollar. Tether, the world's biggest stablecoin, is particularly controversial as there are concerns about whether it holds enough assets in its reserves to justify its peg to the dollar.

"Undoubtedly more scrutiny is forthcoming around stable coins as regulators look under the hood on the soundness of the underlying collateral and amount of leverage deployed," said Lowenstein.

"People remember all too well when the collateral behind the housing and mortgage crises became suspect and risk appetites repriced aggressively."

Meanwhile, regulators have also begun scrutinizing the DeFi space. Earlier this month, central bank umbrella group the Bank for International Settlements called for the regulation of DeFi, saying it's worried about services marketing themselves as "decentralized" when that may not be the case.

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From a bitcoin crash to regulatory crackdowns: Analysts give their top predictions for crypto in 2022 - CNBC

Satoshi Nakamoto originally invented Bitcoin in 2009 as an alternative to traditional financial systems; like most of us, he1 had seen firsthand the disastrous impact corrupt centralized institutions can have on the world through the 2008 financial crisis. Nakamoto recognized the need for a better system, one that could separate itself from centralized powers and be the backbone of a truly free economy. He also understood that such a digital system should rely on no one, not even the creator/founder, to keep running.

Bitcoin was eventually created as a solution: an indiscriminate and decentralized digital asset that relied on a distributed network of miners, rather than a centralized party. The Bitcoin network proposed a new economy in which individuals would be free to transact as they wish, without oversight, surveillance, or tracking. Bitcoin was also the first practical application of blockchain technology, setting in motion a decentralized revolution that continues to this day, slowly breaking free our worlds technology from centralization.

When Bitcoin was first released, it primarily drew a lot of attention from the cypherpunk community, who were a collection of hackers and hobbyists interested in cryptography and private transactions free from government censure. After a period of testing by this community of programmers, bitcoin was at first little more than an anonymous currency, and became widely used to support illicit transactions for drugs and other paraphernalia. In fact, one of the first applications of bitcoin was Silk Road, a website that enabled users to buy a variety of illegal products using the currency.

However, as time went on, Satoshis true vision was slowly realized. Bitcoin slowly began to become the center of a new decentralized economy, and attracted many individuals who had simply become fed up with the economic state of the world. Holders of bitcoin,'' as they are now called, were separated into two categories: those who treated bitcoin as an investment, and those who truly believed in a decentralized future. While the former has certainly helped bitcoin become mainstream, it's been the latter that has pushed bitcoin to being more than just a digital currency. This article aims to provide several personal accounts of the realization that ultimately comes when one goes from looking at bitcoin as an investment to looking at Bitcoin as a lifestyle.

I myself first heard of bitcoin on a snowy Christmas Eve about four years ago. My family was about to make an annual road trip to visit some relatives, and I stopped by the local library to pick up some books to entertain myself on the way. This was right after the famous boon of 2017, when bitcoin and other digital assets gained mainstream attention for the first time due to massive gains in price. Being a high school student interested in both technology and economics, the concept of a currency and financial ecosystem running entirely on the internet had always excited me. With a six-hour road trip ahead of me, I decided to take a chance, and picked up several books related to Bitcoin and its potential to disrupt the economy.

These books ranged from a wide variety of topics and viewpoints: some derided bitcoin as nothing more than a scam that should be avoided, others praised Bitcoin for providing the means to transact freely without any permission or oversight, and one went deep into how Bitcoin represented one of the last hopes for independence in a world that was becoming increasingly populated with surveillance states. This take particularly grabbed my attention: I had become increasingly aware of the semi-authoritarian stance which both governments and big corporations were taking against the average citizen, and while I barely knew it at the time, I had a feeling that Bitcoin could be a part of a broader cryptographic movement that shielded the average person from constant monitoring and control.

As I dove deeper and deeper into the Bitcoin rabbit hole, I slowly began learning more about its history. I learned more about the philosophies of Satoshi, Hal Finney, and others who were part of the early Bitcoin ecosystem. I also began interacting more with the broader blockchain community, and met some of the most kind, intelligent, and welcoming people in the world. Then, after personally winning some prizes at the 2021 MIT Bitcoin Expo Hackathon, I decided to work in blockchain full-time, and eventually had the pleasure of becoming a part of the Bitcoin Magazine contributor network. It was here that I finally understood that Bitcoin was more than just software; it was a culture, a community composed of like-minded individuals who believed in the potential of Bitcoin to make the world a better place to live.

While interacting with the Bitcoin community, I had the pleasure of meeting Sam Cargo, a contributor to Bitcoin Magazine and a strong advocate for its potential to bring freedom to the lives of many. What follows is an abridged version of Sams personal story of getting into Bitcoin, and the lessons he learned along the way:

During summers between semesters, I interned at an engineering firm which presented two significant life-changing opportunities: the first one I was blind and missed, the second one I saw and created. That first opportunity was to invest in bitcoin and begin mining with a fellow, wiser intern who introduced me to the blockchain spectrum in 2014. I thought he was an idiot and I couldn't understand how a computer mines magic internet money.

Sure enough, provided one does their homework, bitcoin's value proposition becomes common sense and crystal clear. The second opportunity didn't come until many years later; after finally realizing Bitcoin's mystique, I resolutely put skin in the game and diverted income into bitcoin. Despite feeling late to the party, I sought to entirely commit myself to furthering Bitcoin's mission and re-creating the opportunity I regretfully missed. Perhaps ironically, my primary focus is the mining industry and how I can apply my current engineering career towards mining that sweet, sweet magic internet money.

In missing that first opportunity, I was forced to reflect on personal biases and question the status quo of the current monetary regime. Given our indoctrination into fiat as the norm, I find it completely sane for one to be skeptical of Bitcoin because it violates the "too good to be true" rule-of-thumb when filtering out bullcrap products. Bitcoin is truly a virtual elixir for many of today's socioeconomic illnesses, which is indeed difficult to imagine, let alone believe.

In studying Bitcoin, one tends to become enamored with doing all they can to participate in the Bitcoin community; whether it be developing, mining, writing, learning... I initially got into Bitcoin for the money, but stayed for the peaceful protest and the community. We are fortunate to witness the adoption of a revolutionary monetary system, entirely dictated by an apolitical protocol, bound by immutable natural law.

Bitcoin is ultimately a family composed of people like Sam who believe in a decentralized future. It is more than just a currency or a software; it is an economic movement, a sort of protest as Sam mentioned against the abuse that centralized powers have levied against the common man for generations. Over the past couple of years, the Bitcoin family has certainly been growing, with more and more people subscribing to the belief that what was once a project mainly being supported by a group of ragtag coders and cryptographers could one day indeed be the centerpiece of a decentralized economy.

This is a guest post by Archie Chaudhury. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

1. The name implies Nakamoto was male, although it could have been anyone, or even a collection of people.

Read more:
The Shared Connection Of The Bitcoin Community - Bitcoin Magazine

Musk says that although Bitcoin is a solid store of value to preserve wealth, it's lousy as a payment solution.

On Dec. 13, TIME magazine named CEO of Tesla/SpaceX -- Elon Musk -- as its 2021 Person of the Year. During a recorded interview with Musk that TIME posted to its Twitter channel as part of its Person of the Year announcement, the world's richest person explained why he believes Dogecoin is better than Bitcoin in some regards.

Before we examine the self-proclaimed "DogeFather's" fixation with meme tokens, we should first examine what money does. For fiat money and cryptocurrencies to be useful to us, there are three primary functions that cold hard cash or hot digital funds need to be able to address. It's generally accepted that currencies address the following three functions:

With that as context, Elon Musk -- who also co-founded PayPal -- believes that Dogecoin is better than Bitcoin in at least one of those baseline currency criteria as shared in these transcribed quotes from the Person of the Year interview.

"My understanding of the money system, at a fundamental level of how it actually works -- the detailed mechanics of it -- I think there are very few people who understand it better than me. Bitcoin is an interesting example and the prime mover on this [the crypto space], but the transaction volume of Bitcoin is low and the cost per transaction is high. It is at its base level suitable as a store of value. But fundamentally Bitcoin is not a good substitute for transactional currency."

However, Musk believes that Dogecoin is ideally suited to be a widely used method of exchange.

"Even though it was created as a silly joke, Dogecoin is better suited for transactions. The total transaction flow -- transactions per day -- that you can do with Dogecoin has much higher potential than Bitcoin. It [Dogecoin] is slightly inflationary, but that inflationary number is a fixed number as opposed to a percentage. Which means that over time, its percentage of inflation decreases. That's actually good because it encourages people to spend it rather than hoard [Dogecoin] as a store of value."

The Tesla organization holds the second largest number of Bitcoin by a corporation, which is reportedly 38,300 coins. Earlier this year Musk also flip flopped back and forth as to whether Tesla would accept Bitcoin as payment for Tesla e-vehicles. His initial rejection of Bitcoin payments sparked a 50% decline in that crypto. Ironically, his own mercurial social media actions have both hurt and helped Tesla's Bitcoin holdings this year. Perhaps someone should tell the combo-world's richest person and Person of the Year that silence is sometimes golden.

Continue reading here:
Musk Explains Why Dogecoin Is a Better Payment Method Than Bitcoin in TIME Interview - The Motley Fool