This is a popular Q&A question on Weibo, and Little Bee's answer is as follows:

It is difficult to summarize the significance of Bitcoin in the field of finance and economics in one sentence. Let's discuss it from several angles.

First, if Bitcoin is a currency, it is a decentralized currency that can be a supplement to international currencies.

Yes, there are still oligarchs who hold Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining. However, the Bitcoin program basically cannot be controlled centrally. It cannot be artificially controlled by a central bank like the U.S. dollar or any other country's legal currency.

You know, every time the U.S. dollar is issued, it will dilute the value of the U.S. dollar, but all holders of the U.S. dollar will be affected, including Americans and countries around the world. Because all countries in the world have U.S. dollar reserves, once the U.S. dollar is issued , and transferred the financial problems of the United States to the world.

Bitcoin can be used internationally, as a complement to world currencies.

Of course, it cannot replace the U.S. dollar, because the total amount of Bitcoin is fixed, and it will be deflationary in the long run, and deflationary things will most likely withdraw from circulation. On the one hand, mild inflation is needed to stimulate economic development; on the other hand, it is a bit like the principle that bad money drives out good money, people will tend to consume inflationary (devaluation trend) currency and deflation (appreciation trend) currency. Coins stay.

Therefore, in some special periods, such as now, the U.S. dollar has unlimited quantitative easing and the U.S. dollar is weak, so Bitcoin has a hedging function. That's why Tesla bought $150 million in Bitcoin. Because this can guarantee the actual purchasing power of the 150 million US dollars, otherwise, the purchasing power of the 150 million US dollars will shrink after a period of time.

Therefore, Bitcoin, as a decentralized asset, can play a certain supplementary role to international currencies.

Second, Bitcoin is the ideal gold for digitization. We know that gold is the original currency. Gold is a scarce asset with the ability to store value.

However, (1) the circulation and storage of gold is cumbersome and costly. For example, if Tesla wants to buy gold with 150 million US dollars, it may have to go to the gold exchange, and it needs to be measured and measured. Security, every piece of investigation is too troublesome. After the purchase is completed, a venue and manual management are required, all of which require time and money. Bitcoin is different, you just need to remember the private key, and you can get it done with a USB flash drive.

(2) Gold is not easy to divide and carry when it is used. Needless to say, Bitcoin is obviously more convenient.

(3) The scarcity of gold is temporary. The reason why gold is valuable is not that gold is really useful. Gold is not as valuable as rice, noodles, and oil. The reason why gold is valuable is because of consensus, and the reason why gold has a higher consensus than silver is because of scarcity. Platinum is too scarce. So gold became money. However, the scarcity of gold is only temporary. There is still a large amount of gold underground and on the seabed. If the mining technology improves, the value preservation ability of gold will be greatly reduced; in addition, if physical technology can break through atoms, it is logically possible to recombine protons, neutrons and electrons in any element to synthesize gold. Of course this is farther away. But Bitcoin does not have this problem. The upper limit of Bitcoin is 21 million. This scarcity may last longer than gold.

Of course, the 21 million bitcoins can also be modified. However, Bitcoin's programming can only be modified with the support of a majority of miners. And Bitcoin is the mining income of miners. Of course, they hope that Bitcoin can be more valuable, so there is a high probability that the upper limit of Bitcoin will not be changed.

Therefore, Bitcoin is the ideal gold for digitization.

Third, Bitcoin has indeed brought a certain negative impact on the financial field. Bitcoin is more difficult to regulate. Because the blockchain is decentralized, the servers of the blockchain are all over the world. Bitcoins can be traded on exchanges around the world. Therefore, it is also more difficult to regulate Bitcoin.

(1) Although Bitcoin is decentralized, there are still behaviors such as price manipulation in the market value. Participating in bitcoin speculation, some people are greedy, irrational, etc., which lead to economic losses and serious bankruptcy. For example, in the recent news, a couple in Dalian used leverage to speculate in coins. They ended up in debt and chose to commit suicide.

(2) Bitcoin may be used for payment in areas such as crime and money laundering.

While Bitcoin is more difficult to regulate, it can still be regulated.

Let’s talk about (1) first. Bitcoin exchanges can be supervised, such as taxing those who make money, limiting the number of purchases, limiting the operation of leveraged products, etc. Of course, this is just my personal brainstorming of the little bee, a more scientific Bitcoin For transaction regulation, we still look forward to better solutions from the government and professional institutions. However, bitcoin transactions can be regulated.

As for (2) although the Bitcoin payment network is anonymous, the areas where Bitcoin can be used are limited after all, so if you want to exchange Bitcoin into legal currency, you still have to go through the exchange after all, and the exchange requires real-name authentication. Therefore, by following the vine, it is possible to find the relevant personnel of each bitcoin payment.

Of course, there is the bitcoin mixing protocol. Several users pooled bitcoins and transferred them out to several different new addresses. Let's put it this way, bitcoins obtained legally may not need to be mixed. Those involved in currency mixing can investigate one by one.

So although Bitcoin is more difficult to regulate, it is not impossible to regulate.

Taken together, Bitcoin can become a decentralized supplement to international currencies internationally. As an ideal digital gold, it can be used as a store of value and a safe-haven asset. Through reasonable supervision, the negative effects of Bitcoin can be reduced. , to play its positive role.