Over the past few years, bitcoin has strongly risen as the main cryptocurrency that allows people to transfer funds and transact business independently. The beauty of bitcoin is that unlike the other currencies, it doesn’t rely on the middlemen and is not regulated by the government through the central bank. Over the years, bitcoin has continued to gain world recognition with more and more merchants today increasingly accepting it as a true form of currency.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is stored in digital wallets by users. These wallets are usually stored in the cloud that acts more like a virtual account in a bank. Bitcoins have been around since 2009 and to date; their value has grown by over 2,500%. This is majorly owed to their decentralized nature. Their value is usually guided by the forces of demand and supply which make the quite unpredictable and volatile. To date, there are about 16,000,000 in the whole world. With the demand so high, there is a great chance that their value will not go down any time soon.
The above reasons make Bitcoins an attractive form of investment, and for this reason, more and more people are seriously considering it as a good form of investment especially for their retirement benefits in the individual retirements accounts (IRA).
As IRA Investment Vehicle
IRAs were first introduced in the 70’s to give individuals the freedom of managing their accounts. What this meant is that individuals were allowed to invest in whatever investment vehicles they desired provided they were legal and legit. Most of these vehicles comprised of bonds, stocks, and Certificates of Deposits which is still majorly the case.
However, with the growth of technology, people are now actively seeking alternative investment options that are devoid of the limitations in the current vehicles. Bitcoin is a good example of the alternative investment vehicles. Bitcoin’s nature of being uncontrolled by the government makes it a great form of investment diversification.
Bitcoin IRA Options
Since bitcoin has not been officially accepted as an investment vehicle for IRA, it isn’t banned either. There are therefore some brokers who are taking advantage of this and offering it as an IRA investment option. As more and more people embrace its use, there is no doubt that it will continue to grow in value and that it might even end up being accepted as an IRA asset. With the current leaps in technology, there is a high chance that currency, as we know it today, will be faced off and will be replaced by bitcoin.
From the above, it can be seen that bitcoin provides a good opportunity for the speculators to make a good amount in their investments. It is therefore important to take advantage of the indecision on the side of the policy makers before strict rules are made in regards to the use of the bitcoin. Care should, however, be taken when trading with bitcoin as there is a good chance that its value may fall all over sudden which may make you lose your investment.