One of the most popular American brokerage services is lending its voice to support the popularity of Bitcoin, as the digital asset has spiked by nearly 1/3 of its total value in the last part of this year.
Reports show Fidelity explaining to critics of Bitcoin that many of the bugs derided by Bitcoin’s detractors are actually deliberate, in the form of trade-offs made to create a truly decentralized cryptocurrency.
Addressing criticisms that Bitcoin “failed as a means of payment,” Fidelity writers and other Bitcoin enthusiasts argue that everyday use was not really the goal.
These Bitcoin proponents can point to all sorts of trading opportunities, including Bitcoin derivatives like futures and options, to show that while many people think Bitcoin is supposed to be money, it’s really more widely used as an investment.
As for the tremendous volatility inherent in Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency model, Fidelity suggest that’s the price to pay for what its analysts call a “intervention resistant market.”
To put this in plain English, Bitcoin fans are arguing that of course there’s been volatility due to market demand, but on the other hand, unlike the dollar, Bitcoin can’t be manipulated through the Federal Reserve.
That argument on its own rings very loud in a time where the US central bank has tried to stave off economic ruin through extremely low interest rates and printing trillions of dollars in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic closures last spring.
Fidelity also addresses several other concerns about Bitcoin – its environmental impact, its potential to facilitate money laundering and fraud, and the idea that it’s not backed up by anything.
If you look through our archives, much of our reporting supports Fidelity’s claims here in ways that are both practical and logically apparent. There are ups and downs to Bitcoin, just like with fiat currencies. But many traders are considering cryptocurrencies to be a safe haven from equities that are dragged around like rags in a dog’s mouth, as superpowers launch capricious trade wars, and national economies run the risk of hyperinflation with unprecedented monetary strategies.
