By Smriti Joinwal
Riding on the heightened interest around the digital cryptocurrecy, “bitcoin”, its obsessive followers made it to surge to a record of $1075 on 28th Nov 2013 on the Mt Gox exchange. There is this craziness about the currency among the Gen Y. A quick glance at the Bitcoin portal like bitcoin.org proves this. Many analysts equate this phenomenon to a digital gold rush, representative of the present. Source Forge, an online platform that enables download of the Bitcoin mining program ranks India as the 17th bitcoin enthusiast out there. For those who are late to join the bandwagon, Bitcoin is an open source product i.e. it does not physically exist. Instead of a bank, a decentralised network of computers ensures the authenticity of bitcoin and issues new ones by indulging into complex calculations. On successfully, solving the problem, a bitcoin is generated. These are purchased and sold against real currency at the ongoing exchange price. After the transaction, the bitcoin moves from the wallet of the seller to that of the buyer. Each wallet has its own unique 33 characters and all of them are synchronised. Thus a fraudulent entry by any person is out of the question. Dabur scion Gaurav Burman, recently stated in The Times Of India that “A credible Bitcoin exchange platform that allows conversions in a secure and transparent manner will encourage wider usage of the currency.”
Many online retailers and merchants have started using the virtual currency globally to accept payments against their services and sale of goods. But none of the giant e-commerce companies like Amazon have started accepting Bitcoins. Some of the various accomplishments of the use of Bitcoins are that Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic just began accepting Bitcoin, Chinese Website Baidu endorsed it, Fed Head Ben Bernanke stated “it may hold long-term promise”, merchants like Shopify started to accept it. Also, RBI released a statement clarifying that “RBI is currently not regulating Bitcoins but is closely watching the developments.” Thus, Bitcoin now seems to be on the brink of respectability. But we can’t turn a blind eye to the easiness with which money can be moved in near anonymity, escalating the fear of the currency being used for fake transactions. Also, since bitcoin is perceived to be a currency, RBI would want to ensure that its role as the sole issuer of notes is not challenged. Income tax authorities may also be interested in ensuring that they get a fair share of the pie when investors make profits. Thus, there is a lot is riding at the moment for people concerned with bitcoin transactions.
It started out as a geeky vision, an open source, peer-to-peer payment network “mined” by computers solving mathematical puzzles and stored in a digital “wallet”. Today, its fluctuating prices are monitored like any other currency, by investors and critics alike. This whole mystery about it as a future currency is overwhelming.
In the end all I can say about bitcoin is that it is “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”
