The Internet, as modern technology, has impacted our lives, from education banking to shopping. Bitcoin is a new-age currency that uses cryptography for internet money transfer and payment processing. If you’re wondering how to choose the right bitcoin exchange for your trade visit this link.
Eight ways how internet affected by bitcoin
1. E-commerce
Transactions over the internet have increased due to the creation of bitcoin. It involves purchasing and selling bitcoins using dollars, pounds, euros, or other conventional currencies.
However, bitcoins can also be used for online shopping and e-commerce transactions. In addition, the use of bitcoin online makes it more convenient and secure than traditional payment methods such as credit cards which carry a transaction fee.
2. Remittances and Micropayments
Bitcoin has made it easy to transfer money online using different payment gateways worldwide. The international remittance market is worth $440 billion, making it an excellent target for bitcoin to flourish.
3. Crowdfunding
Bitcoin has allowed the emergence of crowdfunding platforms that will enable startups to raise funds from the public by selling digital tokens in exchange for bitcoins.
4. Bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
Companies can use bitcoin as an instrument to attract investors through Initial Coin Offerings or ICO, where the company creates its digital assets and issues them for bitcoins. This makes a new way of equity financing in the market.
5. BlockChain Technology
Bitcoin has popularized blockchain, which records all transactions over the web and ensures that any participant or user cannot manipulate them. So companies can use blockchain to create decentralized applications and data storage facilities.
6. Digital Identity and Trust
Bitcoin has created digital identity verification systems like BitNation, which provides a public notary as a blockchain-based alternative to government-issued birth certificates, business licenses, and educational degrees. This helps people who don’t have an official identity document, such as immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers worldwide.
7. Unbanked
According to World Bank reports, 50% of the world’s population is still unbanked, which means they do not have access to banks. However, bitcoin allows all people worldwide who possess a smartphone or computer with internet access to send and receive money in bitcoins. This will help improve financial inclusion around the globe.
8. Money Laundering
Another exciting use of bitcoin is that it can be used for money laundering purposes since the identity of people who pay through bitcoins cannot be identified by financial institutions. So this creates anonymity over the internet using an encrypted address with no user names or ID cards required.
How is the internet negatively affected by bitcoin?
Although bitcoin has helped people transact over the internet easily with fewer fees, it is also being used for illegal activities online.
Some of these are –
1. Money Laundering
Bitcoin was initially created as an alternative currency that would not be under government control, but its use in money laundering increased after some time. This is because it’s easy to hide the actual source of money and transfer it into digital wallets.
2. Illegal Gambling
Bitcoin gambling emerged due to initial legal ambiguity over its status in some countries, including the United States, which banned online poker. This allowed people to gamble on different platforms using Bitcoin as a virtual currency for gaming purposes.
3. Ransomware and Extortion
Since bitcoins are easy to use for illegal transactions, it has led to an increase in ransomware and extortion cases where hackers demand a ransom in the form of bitcoin from their victims.
4. Frauds and Scams
People have tried to take advantage of digital currency’s unregulated status by carrying out fraudulent activities. For example, in 2014, one of the administrators working for Silk Road stole $3.5 million worth of bitcoins from users by hijacking administrator accounts.
While the internet is positively affected by bitcoin, which has led to new trends in e-commerce and helped people to transact easily over the internet, there are some areas where bitcoin has also led to problems.
Conclusion:
The internet is one of the greatest inventions of all time, and it has led to an economic boom in terms of e-commerce. And bitcoin has brought about a similar evolution, but over the internet. It outperforms conventional currencies by cutting out intermediaries like banks or governments who control them and inflating their supply.