In a survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal, it was found that 76 percent of US residents are not familiar with Bitcoin. In addition, 80 percent would rather go with gold than Bitcoin. Bitcoin technology was introduced to the World Wide Web around five years ago, but it has yet to become a household name or a widely used service.
The technology behind Bitcoin is a simultaneous cryptographic protocol and a virtual currency. It provides consumers a way to exchange money for free or for a nominal fee. The advantages of Bitcoin is that the bitcoin can be transferred from user to user without the need of a third party intermediary. It is also secured by cryptography; this makes it harder for hackers to try and steal money from a user’s wallet.
Even though Bitcoin is not well-known and it is still in the earliest phases of industry development, it has seen unprecedented growth. Even more unexpected is the number of big Wall Street investors that are lining up to invest in Bitcoin startups. At the top of this impressive list is the New York Stock Exchange, the subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE).
There are many more that have jumped into invest in Bitcoin as a technology trend. Other traditional names include the financial services company USAA, Spanish banking giant Banco Bibao Viscaya Argentaria SA (NYSE: BBVA) and Japanese telecom firm NTT Docomo, Inc. (NYSE: DCM). Two high-profile individuals have also chosen to invest: former CEO Tom Glocer of Thomson Reuters Corp (NYSE: TRI) and the former CEO of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C), Vikram Pandit.
The recent Boost VC’s Tribe 5 Demo Day brought forth many early-stage companies for potential investors to review. The event featured twenty-five startups. Twenty-two of them were focused on Bitcoin. According to CoinDesk’s Pete Rizzo, Boost VC CEO Adam Draper stated that “these are the future bitcoin companies…these companies are going to be changing the world”.
Despite the fact that not many Americans are aware of Bitcoin, let alone its potential, it is growing rapidly and drawing the attention of some very big investors. However, some individuals may have other ideas besides investing, like starting their own business. Unfortunately, startups are often hard to secure financial services for due to the high risk aspect of startups.
Alternative lending sources, like eMerchantBroker, have stepped in to provide their specialized services to businesses that are considered high risk. Applying for a Bitcoin merchant account is simple, fast and hassle-free, unlike applying with traditional lending sources – only to find that you’ve been denied after going through endless documentation. With the promising future of Bitcoin, many individuals will likely seek the convenience and safety that Bitcoin merchant accounts offer in order to start their business.