Bit Coin Should Be Used As A Regular Online Currency And Not As A Dodgy Investment Opportunity Feel Yahoo Finance Experts

The BitCoin fever seems to have ebbed some time back. But Yahoo Finance experts are advising a different path the virtual currency could take so that it enters mainstream circulation rather than remain an internet fad.

Roughly six months ago, the BitCoin craze was at its peak. Valuation for a single BitCoin had reached over $1,100, confirmed Yahoo Finance. Traditional investment houses, as well as financial adviser portals (including Yahoo Finance), have always considered the virtual currency a faddish investment bubble. Though they haven’t altered their assumptions about BitCoin, Yahoo Finance has put forth an interesting technique or alternative usage of BitCoin that hasn’t been adopted widely, reported Yahoo.

A new Bloomberg Global Poll of finance professionals revealed that 55 percent strongly feel BitCoin represents an unsustainable investment bubble, and another 14 percent contend it’s on the verge of a bubble. This suggests that those bidding for BitCoin are merely participating in a speculative mania in an asset with little underlying value. Currently, BitCoin is trading at nearly half of its peak value at $600.

However, Yahoo Finance host Milanee Kapadia feels it is very important to explore the potential of BitCoin apart from its mere face value. She emphasizes the need to separate the potential for BitCoin as a useful payment system from its purported merits as a store of value with upside appreciation potential. In other words, keep the intentions clear while trading in BitCoin.

More importantly, its usage as a means to procure goods and merchandise should in the near future might be of more importance than its monetary value. As a truly global, anonymous, and highly secure way to purchase goods and services or move funds around, BitCoin is perhaps a first of its kind ingenious and seemingly effective effort.

So what does the Yahoo Finance host suggest? View the system as a lower-cost alternative to online global payment processing platform PayPal. The hugely popular eBay’s offering is widely accepted worldwide and sometimes is the only method to receive or transmit funds globally and quickly. But the downside is the relatively higher processing fees.

Yahoo Finance further points out that though BitCoin has been out rightly dismissed by many influential financial figures, including J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and investor Warren Buffett, there are many more who are willing to cautiously play with the currency. Yahoo Finance noted that as of now venture capitalist and web pioneer Marc Andreessen and marquee stock-fund manager Bill Miller are investors in BitCoin.

BitCoin is slowly getting a legal status, pointed out Yahoo Finance. However, its mainstream adoption may still take some time.

[Image Credit | George Frey/Bloomberg]