This is the third article in the Impakter magazine series about Bitcoin. Written by my sociologist friend Hannah Fischer-Lauder, it explores the question of what is needed to make cryptocurrencies usable as means of exchange. Here’s the beginning:
On 23 January, Stripe, the major firm that supports Bitcoin payments – it does so for more than 100,000 businesses online – announced that it would start winding down its support immediately and stop all transactions by 23 April.
A thunderbolt in a clear blue sky that caught many Bitcoin investors unprepared, did it mark a watershed in the history of digital currencies?
The above describes Stripe services (September 2015) SOURCE: Kineticgrowth.com
If Bitcoin cannot be used as a means of exchange in a potential market of 100,000 businesses, then, surely, it is the end of its role as a currency – after all, enabling transactions is one of the two fundamental roles of currencies. The other is acting as a store of value. And we all know how that went, with Bitcoin’s infamous volatility.
Let’s put the Stripe decision in perspective.
Read the rest on Impakter, click here.
