We think, Bitcoin or ₿ has brand status. It is over 10 years old – started in 2009, and we believe its brand recognition is > 10%.
While the price of bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies or tokens, has exploded since their release, the value is up for debate.
Last week, the digital image Everydays: the First 5000 Days in JPEG Format with a ‘non-fungible-token’ was sold for US$63.9 Millions at Christie’s. The buyer paid with 42,329.453 Ether (ETH), another cryptocurrency.
Some compare cryptocurrencies to gold as a safe harbor against inflation. While critics point to the tulip mania of the 17th century.
In our opinion, there are better comparisons, like postage stamps, or baseball trading cards.
A stamp has almost no value as a printed piece of paper or even less as a printed bar code. For mailing its value might be a few cents, or a few Dollars. As a rare collectors item, Mauritius Post Office stamps traded for roughly US$4Millions in 1993.
Similar are baseball trading cards. The cardboard or plastic has almost no value. Attach the licensed picture of a baseball player and monopolist Topps charges ~US$10 or more. While the famous T206 Honus Wagner was sold for US$2.8Millions in 2007.
Bitcoins are claimed to be inflation proof, as they are limited by design to roughly 21 Million. But they are more divisible than FIAT currencies with only two decimal places. There are small amounts of bitcoin, millibitcoin (mBTC), and satoshi. A satoshi is the smallest amount within bitcoin so far, representing 1⁄100000000 bitcoins, one hundred millionth of a bitcoin.
One hundred million times twenty one million equals 2,100,000,000,000,000. That is Two Quadrillion One Hundred Trillion.