Bitcoin: The Maybe-Not-So-Bad Way to Store Value

One group states that Bitcoin (BTC) is not, and can never be, a reliable way to store value — arguing that its volatility makes it far inferior to traditional fiat currencies. On the other side are the Bitcoin proponents who argue that BTC has, and will, continue to prove itself as an excellent way to store value — both over the short and long term. For the general public in mainstream society, Bitcoin is mostly still considered either a lucrative investment vehicle or an online currency mostly used by technology geeks and computer scientists for vague reasons. Recently, Josu San Martin, a Mexican Bitcoin enthusiast, compared Bitcoin and the Argentinian Peso as stores of value — which produced a result that may shock some cryptocurrency naysayers. If an Argentinian had simply bought Bitcoin (BTC) during the highs of 2017’s Bitcoin bull run at around $20,000, that person would still be better off, now — compared to simply holding Argentine Peso (ARS) in their bank. This is due to inflation.

If an Argentinian had bought Bitcoin at the highest point of the "biggest bubble in history", in 2017, he would have been better off than leaving his money in his Argentinian bank account. So tell me again how Bitcoin is a horrible store of value. pic.twitter.com/55YuAi9vD4

— Josu San Martin (@josusanmartin) May 19, 2019

Since December 2017, the Argentine Peso has lost much of its value against the US Dollar as it slid from 17.49 ARS/USD down to 45.9 ARS/USD as of writing — a staggering 74 percent loss in just 18 months. [bctt tweet=”Since December 2017, the Argentine Peso has lost a staggering 74% of its value in just 18 months, compared to just 61% for Bitcoin. ” username=”beincrypto”] By comparison, Bitcoin also lost a great deal of value in this time period — falling from its peak of $20,078 in December 2017 down to just below $9000, at the time of this writing. Similarly, if we scale further back, it is clear that the Argentine Peso has been in steady decline for the past five years, while Bitcoin has grown tremendously in this time. Such cases only reinforce the idea that any currency only has value as long as the people using it believe that it does. Without that belief, fiat currencies can quickly fall into ruins. This is perhaps best demonstrated by the Venezuelan bolivar, which has lost 90 percent of its value in the last year amid an extreme economic failure. With that said, comparing Bitcoin to two failing economies is not necessarily the best demonstrator of its potential as a long-term store of value. Still, it can be said that Bitcoin is at least as good as some fiat currencies. However, given that Bitcoin has comfortably survived its first decade, it may not be long until it can be properly compared with today’s strongest fiat currencies.  What is your opinion on Bitcoin as a store of value? Are there any better alternative stores of value? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!