01 Feb 2014 / Fusion – The idea of monetary currency is a funny thing when you sit and think about it. A twenty dollar bill in your pocket only has twenty dollars worth of purchasing power because enough people have agreed that it does. Yet, there is nothing intrinsically valuable about the paper you hold and the number that is printed on it.
Enter the bitcoin. The controversial digital currency is (literally) of no value in the real world, unless enough people agree that it should be worth something. In that case, the value becomes real, and you can make actual purchases with it. And Bitcoin, like any currency, has its perceived valuation ebb and flow from time to time. This happens every time it hits the news for good or bad reasons.
The ups and downs of the Bitcoin value has led some to suggest that it is a speculative bubble, and others to comment that it is a bubble altogether. Yet the fact remains that with every passing day, more and more companies are starting to accept Bitcoin, cementing the necessary buy-in that makes the perceived value of the currency real. Recently web marketplace giants Overstock.com and TigerDirect.com announced that they would start accepting Bitcoin.
Previous to these large businesses drinking the punch, a micro-economy of Bitcoin accepting companies has been flourishing in what has up to now been a niche market. Since most large corporations still don’t accept Bitcoin, websites like CoinGig.com offer spaces where users can purchase just about anything with them….. Read more
http://fusion.net/modern_life/story/bitcoin-bubble-bubble-415227
