There is a myth in certain circles that it is too late to get into Bitcoin -- that if you didn't buy in early then you missed the boat. Not so, says Roger Ver. You might expect him to say that, though: he is also known as Bitcoin Jesus, after all.
It feels like a lot has happened to Bitcoin during its short lifetime, but the reality is that it is still early days for the cryptocurrency.
It is, however, changing fast.
"Just this year we're seeing major financial institutions get involved in Bitcoin," says Ver, speaking on stage at Pioneers Festival in Vienna. Big banks like Goldman Sachs are getting involved -- it's hitting mainstream Wall Street. "A couple of years ago this would have been unimaginable," he says.
There are more and more ATM machines where you can put cash in and Ver thinks that this year there's a chance we'll see traditional ATM integrate Bitcoin too. "This is heading towards worldwide adoption."
One company that Ver thinks has a lot of potential to benefit from Bitcoin is Amazon, which endures an annual struggle to turn a profit, and spends around $2.6 billion a year on credit card processing fees. Ver asserts that if Amazon switched to using Bitcoin, it could cancel out that spending and in doing so, double its annual profit.
"I want to point out to you that if Amazon adopts Bitcoin, it won't just be Amazon," he adds. "If the entire world adopts Bitcoin each Bitcoin will be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars."
There are somewhere between 5 and 10 billion Bitcoin users in the world -- because of anonymity, the exact number is unclear, but one thing Ver is sure of is that it is going to grow. People will be using it for everything, from gambling, to sending money to foreign workers, to grocery shopping. "More and more people are going to start using it, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind," he says.
One of the things that will increase confidence in Bitcoin is the extensive startup and VC investment in the cryptocurrencies infrastructure that is currently "exploding". Once upon a time there was only one Bitcoin exchange, but now there are many and they're getting better and better all the time. It is becoming hard for Ver himself to keep track, he says. "Somehow i wound up with the nickname Bitcoin Jesus so people expect me to know about everything everywhere."
Another thing that will increase usage is general awareness, of course. "Once people see Bitcoin and how it works they realise this isn't just a flash in the pan," says Ver. He believes the currency's impact will be "on par with the internet... in terms of how it's changing the way people around the world are behaving".
"Because the supply of Bitcoin is limited, the price of Bitcoin is going to have to increase and increase very substantially over time," says Ver. "My advice is that if you're interested in Bitcoin and excited by Bitcoin then buy some Bitcoin and hold onto them and you're likely to do very well over time."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
