Just in-time for all those uncomfortable family Holiday conversations. Yeah, you know the ones. Those spirited conversations that inevitably cover politics, religion, health, and probably Bitcoin.

Well, we wanted to give you some “food for thought” this Thanksgiving (pun intended). We do not give financial advice, but as technologists we are always intrigued by disruptive and emerging technologies. This happens to be the case with all blockchain, digital currency, and the evolution of Bitcoin technology.

In the age of Artificial Intelligence, there is an increasing need for digital currency that can transact instantaneously around the globe. In the article, we’ll take a look at the data behind Bitcoin with ten quantifiable numbers to better understand this technology.

21,000,000

In Satoshi’s white paper (link) publish in 2008 – the creator of Bitcoin outlined the mathematical systems explaining that there will only be 21 million Bitcoin ever mined. Bitcoin is a finite commodity with a fixed supply. 19.5 million of these Bitcoin have already been mined.

Bitcoin officially launched as a digital currency on January 3rd, 2009.

$68,990

Bitcoin reached it’s all time high in November 2021 when the price of one Bitcoin reach $68,990 USD. Previously the all-time high for Bitcoin was $19,600 in December 2017. In each instance, Bitcoin has corrected downward by 80%.

875

Bitcoin is often referred to as “digital gold”. Much of the debate around Bitcoin has been whether to categorize it as an actual currency, a commodity, or a digital decentralized store of value similar to Gold. Today it’s widely used as a digital store of value with a market cap of $727 billion.

On January 2nd, 2009, the price of actual Gold was ended the day valued at $874.50 per troy ounce. Today Gold is priced at $1,990 per ounce. Bitcoin is priced at $37,200 (link).

2024

April 2024 is the next Bitcoin halving cycle. Each four years, Bitcoin goes through a halving cycle. This is a specific block in the Bitcoin chain, where Bitcoin miners receive half of the Bitcoin mining reward. In April 2024 the block reward will be reduced from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC driving scarcity of the resource.

Historically, halving events have been a catalyst for the next bull-cycle and all-time highs. April 2024 is the next scheduled halving.

4500%

Bitcoin was $813 on Thanksgiving Day 2013. Despite it’s price volatility, Bitcoin is the top performing asset of the last decade up some 4500%. For comparison, the S&P is up 138 % during that same period. The price of gold is up 55% over the last decade. Both Gold and Bitcoin has been viewed by some as a hedge against inflation and the declining value of the American dollar (USD) over the past decade as well.

1997

Bitcoin has as many users as the internet did in 1997. Widespread consumer adoption of the internet didn’t begin until after the dotcom bubble in 1999. It’s estimated, that roughly 0.1% of the world population owns Bitcoin. Adoption of this technology is still in the early adopter phase (bell curve) of the technology adoption life-cycle.

20

The average adoption curve is 20+ years for disruptive technology such as the radio, the personal computer, the internet, and the mobile phone.

The mobile phone was originally invented in 1984. However, it did not achieve widespread consumer adoption until the early 2000’s. The release of the Apple iPhone in 2007 led to further innovation. Many of you are reading this article on a mobile device. Something unimaginable just 40-years ago. Technologies like the internet took much longer to be introduced to the public.

Bitcoin was invented in 2009 and is 14 years into this journey.

8,200,000,000

In 2022, Bitcoin processed $8.2 trillion dollars transactions. This is effectively the same dollar amount of transactions as Visa ($6.2T) and Mastercard ($2.5T) did combined. Institutional adoption of all digital assets and digital banking technologies like Venmo continues to increase. The approval of a Bitcoin Spot ETF is expected to only accelerate this innovation.

8

The SEC is currently reviewing (8) applications for a Bitcoin spot ETF. The SEC is expected to approve a Bitcoin ETF in coming months, which would enable large investment firms like BlackRock and Fidelity to offer Bitcoin as part of their normal investment portfolios.

While digital currencies have been a volatile asset-class, institutional investments and sophisticated industrial mining companies are expected to help stabilize the asset class over the next decade.

2030

Usage of digital currencies is expected to rise by 2030, as Governments work create their own central bank digital currencies (CBDC) to compete in the digital era.

Many speculate that Bitcoin could be worth more than $1 million dollars by 2030. This is also the year that many governments have targeted to roll out of their own CBDC.

Either way, expect the digital currency landscape to continue to be volatile in the years ahead.

**Disclaimer: none of the information in this article should be considered investment advice. Please consulting your own financial advisor regarding your own investment decisions.