As sophomore Surya Dantuluri browsed through the Internet three weeks before finals, he noticed the recent popularity surrounding cryptocurrency and its uses. Intrigued by its new logistics, he decided to invest a dollar into Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency system, in order to understand how the market works. Finding it both interesting and secure, Dantuluri began investing in Ripple, Ethereum and other types of blockchain cryptocurrency.
When a user performs a transaction, he adds a block to the chain of transactions that have been done in the past, becoming part of an “immutable record.” Security is a top priority for cryptocurrency users as companies have added network protection and a network backup to their platforms.
“Cryptocurrency is a financial subset of blockchain. [People] could use blockchain for a lot of things, but people [mostly] use it for financial things,” Dantuluri said. “[It] is a decentralized banking system [which] is really trustworthy of what you are buying so you won’t be scammed.”
Dantuluri has noticed that Bitcoin’s popularity over the last month has seemed to increase and there have been many investors who are switching over to this type of currency. According to Blockgeeks, people are switching to cryptocurrency because of its security and reliability.
“It is because over the past month or so there are a lot of people who have no idea of what they are getting into,” Dantuluri said. “This increases the value of Bitcoin, Ripple or Ethereum and it makes people who know about the cryptocurrency richer and that is good for [investors].”
However, Dantuluri is not optimistic about the future of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, believing it will quickly be taken over by something or the other.
“I think in the future people will start losing interest in it in a year or two,” Dantuluri said. “It is like Pokemon Go, as people will start losing [interest after some time].”
Junior Adithya Telang is also a user of cryptocurrencies and has been investing since 2016. He invests in Bitcoin because of its security, having all transactions digitally logged, and is looking forward to expanding in his possible investments
“I just invested in [Bitcoin],” Telang said. “I invested in 2016 and I pulled the money out when it was at $20 thousand. I am [also] pretty interested in the new cryptocurrencies and I am looking to invest in them.”
Telang believes that the bright future of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is being met with some dark patches. Recently there have been many speculations about Bitcoin and the South Korean government is looking towards closing many of its markets as a precaution. According to Fortune, the South Korean economy is thinking of creating restrictions as one of its exchanges had filed for bankruptcy.
“Blockchain is a good technology and [the popularity of Bitcoin] is going to go up,” Telang said. “Right now the market is on a down-trend because of the South Korean exchange being closed.”
Like Telang, freshman Rikhil Konduru is a consistent user of cryptocurrency and spends a lot of his time learning the ups and downs of the market. His goal when he began using cryptocurrency was to bask in his profits.
“[I started using Bitcoin because] I really want a car. I started using Bitcoin around June or July,” Konduru said. “I [began] with around $600 and I use it mainly for trade and mining, which is basically generating new currency. I really use it just to make more money.”
Since investing, he has made close to $10,750.
Konduru uses Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies because of their improved technology. In addition to that, he also finds them very easy to use.
“Looking at the technology behind it, I can see it’s more efficient than a bank,” Konduru said. “You don’t have to put in a credit card number or an expiry date. All you need to do is put in your address and press a button that says ‘transact’ and you’re done, it’s way easy.”
Konduru looks forward to the future of cryptocurrencies, and he believes that everything depends on how convenient the transactions become and future advancements in the technology of blockchain.
“Depending on whether other cryptocurrencies ‘work’, in terms of dollar-value and whether or not people use them, and I think there are better technologies than Bitcoin,” Konduru said. “Bitcoin is going up because you can easily buy it from anywhere [and I am using it because] I want to buy a car.”
