In: Economics
bitcoin has fluctuated widely in value since its inception. in about 100 words, outline the reasons that a crypotocurrency might fluctuate to a greater degree than most other currencies. Are you confident in the financial security of Bitcoin? Would you invest in it? Would you depend on Bitcoin for financial transactions?
Answer-A) Bitcoin may be considered unusually risky
becasuse:
1. Faulty price discovery - Bitcoin prices are discovered through
exchanges that are unregulated with very lax KYC compliance
process. Wash trades, front-running and trading with insufficient
funds is said to be common in many of these exchanges.
2. Price volatility - The main reason for this volatility is that
there is no underlying to which the value of the bitcoin can be
pegged. Its price is based just on the demand and supply in
numerous unregulated exchanges around the world.
3. Lack of regulation - The speed of money transfer and the lower
cost of transaction in bitcoins are mainly because there is no
supervising authority. But with no overseeing authority, instances
of price manipulation is common.
B) Regulators (US or international) are considering getting
involved
1. US government request to trawl through the personal data of
millions of users of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase signals
the start of an effort to pull digital currencies like bitcoin into
the mainstream.
2. China recently made it illegal for companies to raise new funds
by issuing virtual tokens.