New high: $250

I recommend bitcoin above any other crypto currency. Why? Because bitcoin will become the back-end system for the financial industry. Few people will actually use bitcoins directly in the future.

There will be banks that you have an account with, just like today. Except everything will be denominated in bitcoins. Your bank account will be a bitcoin address. You can go to an atm, branch, or online, to withdraw or deposit.

Withdraws will be in any denomination you like. $1 to $1000000 and anything in between. That's because each note will be like a money order. You request the money order, put money on it, and can use it one time. If you lose it, it's gone. Unlike a money order, they will have no counter-party except for the bitcoin network itself. They can be put in a vault and stored for 10 years.

There will also be check-like notes you can request, which will have a special code on them from that specific bank. Banks will agree on these codes such that you can take it to another bank and the first bank will transfer bitcoins directly to the second bank. These check-like notes would be equivalent to banknotes like in the old days.

There will be no fractional reserve banking, because each bank account will be a bitcoin address. You can view the exact amount in your address (or any other address) by going to www.blockchain.info and typing it in. The bank will simply take care of holding the private key and provide insurance in case it gets lost or stolen.

Micro transaction networks can be formed on top of bitcoin. Basically, instantaneous, small purchases will be handled by the bank instantly, like email, and settled with the bitcoin network minutes later as the blocks are constructed.

Right now it's like the wild west, but it is the foundation upon which multiple financial systems will be constructed.





On the other hand, it's possible that the financial system will make a clone of bitcoin and announce they are standardizing on that specific coin version. In that case, nobody would hold previous coins and the value would be high from day 1 because it would be the agreed-upon standard.