Humans don't really need anything except
for food, shelter, clothing, and clean water. Theoretically, if everyone had
the perfect amount of each of those things, we would have no need for money
and everyone would live happily ever after. In the real world, some people
have more water than others, but perhaps less access to food or clothing. And
trading or bartering for a better balance has always been necessary. But
picture this, the local mall with every shopper carrying around like bolts of
cloth or construction grade lumber to each shopkeeper one by one trying to
find the one who both has what they need and needs the thing that they happen to
be carrying. Kind of ridiculous. That is
why we need currency. Compared to cattle, for instance, it's easier to
use, more durable, and more compact. Not to mention, it smells better. Metals,
notably gold and silver, were used as currency for thousands of years. Then
widespread adoption of government regulated centralized banking in the
19th and 20th centuries brought about money. This currency exists in the form
of promises stored electronically and printed on paper. Handy, sure, but
unlike metals whose value we all agree on, with money we rely on someone else
to tell us what it's worth. Which leads us to why there are people who want a
new alternative to centralized banks. Regulated currencies are ultimately
controlled by people and are therefore more easily manipulated for gain by
those in a position of power with a deep understanding of the system. With
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, like anything, it's possible to gain the
system for personal gain, but they are not centrally controlled. Supply and
demand are the main drivers of their worth and the built-in limit to how much
can exist. Just like precious metals should in the long term prevent mass
devaluation and the inflation that's caused by central banks printing money
that they don't have. Okay, so if we want to be more like metals, why not
just go back to gold? Well, there are other advantages, too. Unlike gold,
which is inconvenient to move around, Bitcoin is stored and transferred
digitally in a virtual wallet. And unlike cash, each Bitcoin has a public
transaction history that makes it theoretically impossible to counterfeit.
All right, so how do I get them? Well, method number one is to use a computer
to solve cryptographic problems. You can get more details on this in the Bitcoin
sub forum online is techtips.com. Method number two, like any other type of
money, is to exchange goods or services for it or even other currency using an
exchange. So, sounds great, right? I sure think so. The obvious question
though at this point is what can go wrong? And the answer is lots. At the
moment, not too many merchants accept Bitcoin, so it's kind of hard to spend.
Without regulation or predictable demand, valuation can swing up and down
wildly. Some governments, notably Russia and China at the time of filming, are
resistant to cryptocurrency and have gone as far as to ban the use of
Bitcoin. And like anything new, the security of the system is still largely
unproven. Can I truly buy something anonymously? Can it be easily stolen
from me digitally? Can anyone promise me that this will still exist in one, 10,
or a hundred years? Currency relies on trust. And only time will tell which
cryptocurrency, if any, we can trust for our retirement funds. What can we count
on? Bitcoin, do Deutscoin, Dogecoin,
whatever you want to call it. Well, I don't know. But I'll tell you what we
can count on. Lion is telling us what a great idea it is to head over to
audible.com/techwicki to learn about their monthly audiobook subscription.
Audible.com is the number one spot on the internet for audio books. You know,
books that read themselves to you with your smartphone or other device. They
have over 150,000 choices, including a personal favorite of mine, The Secret
Diary of Adrien Mole by Sue Townsend. I read this as a kid and the only
complaint I had about it was that a lot of the diary entries hit shockingly
close to home, making it the kind of thing that would be awkward to read
alongside my parents. Maybe that's an idea. Give audible.com a try. The first
one is free and listen to it together with your pre-adolescent or adolescent
son just for a lark. Anyway, guys, thanks for watching. Like this video if
you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it. Leave a comment and let me know your
thoughts on Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. And of course, you can
exchange comments with each other because the new YouTube comment system
is so much better than the old one, etc., etc., etc. Thank you, Google, for the large sums of cash that you gave me
for saying that. Actually, they didn't, and I was being ironic. Anyway, and as
always, guys, don't forget to subscribe to Techquie for more fastest possible videos just like this one.