15 May 2014 /Investopedia – According to the official Bitcoin protocol, the number of BTC (the Bitcoin currency symbol) that can ever be mined into existence is capped at 21 million BTC. That’s it. Currently, just under 13 million are in circulation. Because of its finite supply, Bitcoin proponents believe that each BTC can only rise in value – perhaps to as high as $1 million. Bitcoin’s critics, on the other hand, worry that Bitcoin’s borderless nature make it the perfect vehicle for shady business ventures to flout international trade law and embargoes. To help shed light on the matter, Investopedia interviewed Gil Luria, Managing Director at the Los Angeles, Ca.-based investment bank Wedbush Securities, the first investment bank in the U.S. to accept Bitcoin as payment for fees. (Need a basic Bitcoin explainer? See our video, “What is Bitcoin?“)
Q: I’ve heard you say that one day 1 BTC could be worth $1 million. Do you want to expound on that?
A: Haha, I’ve qualified that statement a number of times. If Bitcoin lives up to its potential and becomes the working capital of international trade, instead of countries and companies sitting on yen, U.S. dollars, Swiss francs, they could just use Bitcoin for cross-border transactions. It would be far more efficient. If that were to happen, Bitcoin would be taking $10 trillion of foreign currency that sits in multinational companies. If that were the case, each Bitcoin could be worth $1 million. The probability of that happening would be very low but it is possible….. Read more
