This thing is not a toy anymore,» PlanB told Peter McCormack in a May 1 podcast episode. «It’s maybe not an asset anymore as well,» he said, adding, «It is going to be much bigger than that.
Crypto analyst and Twitter personality, PlanB, recently said Bitcoin is serious business as he recapped the asset’s journey over the last decade.
PlanB is known around the crypto space for his stock-to-flow model. The model takes into account Bitcoin’s block reward, or current inflation, and halving events, factoring those into the asset’s price.
PlanB created a concept for Bitcoin’s growth compared with its supply
According to that data, PlanB plotted a few future price targets for Bitcoin, ultimately showing the asset’s potential for a $1 million price tag down the road.
PlanB published an updated version of his model in an April 27 blog post, making gold and silver part of the equation, while taking the time component out.
Bitcoin started out as a toy
Referencing its early beginnings roughly a 11 years ago, PlanB said Bitcoin began its journey as a proof-of-concept, or PoC, for a peer-to-peer digital cash system. «It was kind of a toy,» McCormack said – a description PlanB agreed with.
PlanB noted Bitcoin did not even hold a $1 million dollar market cap in its first two years, although the landscape subsequently changed. «Then came the transition,» he said. «It went from a toy, magical internet money, to dollar parity,» he said, describing the credibility Bitcoin gained when it hit $1 per coin.
The analyst explained Bitcoin’s price and usage journey over the years, as its identity transitioned from a payment avenue, to a status similar to gold, to its current position as a financial asset.
PlanB did mention the possibility of another transition, although he chose not to provide any speculation on what that might include exactly. The analyst and podcast host also dove into a bevy of other points and concepts in the hour-long podcast episode.
With Bitcoin’s halving quickly approaching, time will tell how the coin’s status will change in the upcoming days.
Iran Ditches the Rial Amid Hyperinflation as LocalBitcoins Seem to Trade Near $35K
Per a May 4 report from local outlet Mehr News, Iran’s new ‘Reforming Monetary and Banking Law’ has passed in parliament. The new law dictates the transition from rial to the toman – valued at 10,000 rials – within the next two years.
Hyperinflation and the BTC connection in Iran
Back in 2018, Iranian authorities set an official exchange rate at some 42,000 rial to the dollar. Many currency exchanges still show this as the going rate. At the same time, peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange LocalBitcoins is seeing prices of 1,445,658,900 rials per BTC – according to the official exchange rate, roughly $34,500.
It is, however, not the time to start selling BTC in Iran. Despite official proclamations, the rial has taken a beating alongside the Iranian economy.
According to Radio Free Europe, black market trading had the U.S. dollar selling for 156,000 rials. The toman would cut four zeroes off of current rates, but may well run into the same problems that have stymied the rial.
Years of hyperinflation in Iran
United States sanctions following President Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal initially set in motion years of hyperinflation and economic woes.
More recently, Iran’s struggle to contain the coronavirus and the collapse of the price of oil have compounded existing problems.
Cointelegraph has previously reported on the increasing value of crypto to Iranians. Other countries facing hyperinflation have used crypto to combat slipping values – most recently, Venezuela saw a new BTC-backed synthetic dollar.
