Bitcoin is a currency that has been around since 2009 which gained mainstream attention earlier this year due to a massive spike in its value. Its value often fluctuates vastly by the hour which has made some investors feel as though it is too large of a risk to invest in. Currently, the value of one bitcoin is equal to US$17170.01 although by the time you're reading this article it will likely have changed quite significantly.
But why would I invest now if the value is so unstable?
The purpose of investing right now is because the value of bitcoin will drop considerably once the United States and other nations figure out how to regulate it and therefore, ways to manipulate its value.
It is currently unregulated by a government and there are roughly 1800-2000 of them produced every day. This has and will continue to continue at this linear rate until either government intervention causes change or when July of 2020 arrives as the new "mining block" will be broken and this number will decrease.
It appears as though the United States is still unsure what to do regarding regulation of the currency and its number of uses are still expanding. Today, it was introduced to the Stock Market and peaked at a value of $18,545 after the first day. Las Vegas has recently begun accepting bitcoin as a way to buy chips in order to gamble at the casinos while in parts of Australia, pubs and restaurants have begun accepting the online currency as payment.
Why would places accept a currency with no regulated worth?
They realize that there is money to be made off of it in the future; They are doing what you should be doing, investing. Though theoretically, it is extremely difficult to predict the time when the value of bitcoin will rise and fall, it is made easier by following the simple laws of supply and demand.
Currently, the uses for bitcoin are expanding and while its risks remain largely stagnant.
This causes an increase in the demand while it is already known that the supply is linear for at least another two and a half years which in turn drives up the price. The other reason the value will continue to rise is that as more industries accept it as a payment, the number of its uses will temporarily rise exponentially as the demand does.
How does one purchase or trade bitcoin?
Similar to the real market and how one would buy or trade stocks. As it opened today to the stock market you can either buy directly from them when it re-opens tomorrow or you can go on trading websites that were set up specifically for the purpose of trading bitcoin such as Coinbase or Coloniex though Bitcoin Futures is currently the safest market to buy from in terms of security.
