The future of the world's most popular digital currency is anyone's guess, but one academic has warned that it could fade out in the near future.
Eswar Prasad, senior professor of international trade policy at Cornell University, told CNBC thatBitcoin may not last that long.
The price of one coin has fallen from over $60,000 to less than $46,000 in the last month. At 10:15 a.m. On Friday, the price of the virtual currency was over $50,000.
While there used to be a few cryptocurrencies, today there are hundreds and some of them are more useful and eco-friendly.
The underlying technology behind cryptocurrencies is called theBlockchain. It is a digital ledger of virtual currency transactions that is distributed across a global network of computers.
The future of money is changing because of the digital revolution and the use of the blockchain technology is not very efficient.
He explained that the validation mechanism for transactions that are harmful to the environment is used by thecryptocurrencies. The whole of New Zealand has a bigger carbon footprint than the one for bitcoin.
Some of the newer cryptocurrencies use a different technology than bitcoin.
He believes that the way that finance is done and the way we conduct our day-to-day transactions will be fundamentally changed by the use of the technology.
I don't think that the value of the coin is going to be much different than what the investor believes it to be.
Cryptocurrencies have lit a fire under central banks to start thinking about issuing their own digital versions of their own currencies.
He said that digital currencies could be beneficial as they may provide a low-cost payment option that everyone has access to, thereby increasing financial inclusion and potentially financial stability.
It has set off a revolution that could benefit all of us, even if you don't like it.
