An article in the MIT Technology Review came up with not one or two, but three plans to destroy the virtual currency Bitcoin. The article, titled “Let’s Destroy Bitcoin,” unveils three paths that could result in the demise of the artificial currency.
1. Government Takeover
According to the article, the first option to take down Bitcoin is a government takeover of the cryptocurrency with the creation that the article dubs “Fedcoins” (Federal Reserve-backed coin). The introduction of Fedcoin could be overseen by the IMF, the World Bank and the Federal Reserve. Fedcoin would reportedly improve upon the efficiencies of Bitcoin, not only reducing the demand for decentralized virtual currencies but also eliminating it.
The increasing value of Bitcoin has some experts forecasting the release of a U.S.-backed digital cryptocurrency. A study by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance reports that central banks around the world strongly favor blockchain technology. Over 20% of the central banks surveyed indicated that they would be using the blockchain technology by the end of 2019, while 40% would have active blockchain-based apps within 10 years.
One professor cited in the article argued that a shift away from cash would help governments collect taxes and enact monetary policies more easily.
2.Facebook Sneak Attack
Another strategy the article offers to destroy Bitcoin is a takeover of Bitcoin by Facebook. This strategy involves the social networking site creating its own BTC wallets for its users and rewarding them in the artificial currency for interacting with ads. The tech company could also give its users an ad-free experience if they allow it to mine on the unused power of their computer.
Facebook could overthrow Bitcoin by issuing its own artificial currency, notes CoinTelegraph, just like Telegram is trying to do. Telegram, which has around 200 million users all over the world, aims to create its own app-specific cryptocurrency, called “Grams”, which users could use to pay for services within the network or could send each other. The messaging app raised over $850 million from investors by February by selling the currency in advance of an ICO (initial coin offering). In a second round in March, it had raised another $850 million.
3.Go forth and multiply
The third and last strategy of MIT was “tokenization of everything.” The article noted that goods and services will be greatly represented by tokens in the future and those tokens could be exchanged with anything ranging from babysitting services to local subway rides.
The professor cited earlier in the study described a future in which there would be thousands of ways to pay for things, using tokens which are similar to the gift cards and point systems that companies already use to attract their customers. The key difference would be that the blockchain technology would make them secure and easily transferable. With time, Bitcoin would lose its importance as more efficient tokens come to the fore.
