For beginners.... Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency where the creation and transfer of bitcoins is based on an open-source cryptographic protocol that is independent of any central authority. Bitcoins can be transferred through a computer or smartphone without an intermediate financial institution. The concept was introduced in a 2008 paper by pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto, who called it a peer-to-peer, electronic cash system. Right now the exchange rate is 1 BTC = 90 USD... As people get more concerned with the loss of value of the US Dollar, they will turn to other options, such as gold and bitcoins... BTC is relatively new.... but I think it can offer quite a bit of competition to bullion metals...
as long as robots aren't programmed to mine trillions of bitcoins the way the federal reserve has been creating new issues of US dollars out of thin air, Bitcoin can easily be a viable alternative with relative stability for digital trade and for short term trade in general retail markets, but I don't think anything will replace gold and silver as real money since the real money will always have some degree of circulation, even when there's a whole bunch of bad money circulating because there will be certain pockets of individuals where the bad money isn't welcome, where they only deal in gold, silver and for the smallest transactions, especially when it comes to making change, base metals like copper and nickel.
Well... there is a daily limit to the number of bitcoins being mined. Right now about 12 million have been mined. The total limit is 21 million, and that will be reached by the year 2140. So they are guarded against inflation. I agree. Paypal / Visa are charging way too much fees for online shopping and other online transactions. BTC wallets charge less than 10% of what Paypal is charging... so BTC can replace Paypal / Visa in digital trade. I don't think BTC will ever get as popular as gold and silver... but who knows.. anything can happen in the future!
