Not sure how Bitcoin is any different than fiat currency (e.g. the U.S. Dollar) except that it apparently takes a lot of electricity to produce them.
I bring Bitcoin up on this BB as many consider it a viable replacement to goverment-controlled currencies like the U.S. dollar (much like fans of gold believe it is the best alternative). Gold is something you can see, touch, and manufacture into coins or perhaps link it to a currency (either physcial paper or digital) equivalent to a given amount of gold stored in ultra-secure locations (e.g. Fort Knox).
Here's an explanation of how / why the U.S. went off the gold standard re. the U.S. dollar (from an article entitled "Why did the U.S. abandon the Gold Standard?" on mentalfloss.com):
Why did the U.S. abandon the gold standard?
To help combat the Great Depression.
Faced with mounting unemployment and spiraling deflation in the early 1930s, the U.S. government found it could do little to stimulate the economy. To deter people from cashing in deposits and depleting the gold supply, the U.S. and other governments had to keep interest rates high, but that made it too expensive for people and businesses to borrow. So in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt cut the dollar’s ties with gold, allowing the government to pump money into the economy and lower interest rates. “Most economists now agree 90 percent of the reason why the U.S. got out of the Great Depression was the break with gold,” said Liaquat Ahamed, author of the book Lords of Finance.
The U.S. continued to allow foreign governments to exchange dollars for gold until 1971, when President Richard Nixon abruptly ended the practice to stop dollar-flush foreigners from sapping U.S. gold reserves.
Nonetheless, the current Bitcoin mania continues as the first Bitcoin U.S.-based ETF was listed with great interest as outlined in the article below which appeared in today's National Post.
Here are a few exerpts from the article:
LISTING OF BITCOIN-LINKED ETF A TURNING POINT
National Post
20 Oct 2021
Vildana hajric
The first Bitcoin-linked exchange-traded fund listed in the U.S. debuted as the second most heavily-traded fund on record in a watershed moment for the crypto industry. The Proshares Bitcoin Strategy ETF — trading under the ticker BITO — rose about 4.9 percent to US$41.94.
More than 24 million shares changed hands Tuesday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Because of the way the fund settles trades, net flows into or out of the product probably won’t be known until overnight on Wednesday...........
Meanwhile, Bitcoin made a run at its record high of just under US$65,000........
A Bitcoin ETF has been long-awaited by both the crypto community and investors on Wall Street, many of whom have argued for years that approval by regulators would open up digital currencies to more mainstream investors. The Proshares fund is based on futures contracts and was filed under mutual fund rules that SEC chairman Gary Gensler has said provide “significant investor protections.”........
I'm not sure how investors are valuing Bitcoin, but it's hard to imagine their worth $65,000 U.S. apiece. Plus, the amount of electricity needed to produce Bitcion is curious at a time when many people, investors, and corporations alike are frowning on fossil fuels such as natural gas and want them replaced with renewable sources of energy like wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, biomass, etc. Does society want electricity to power Bitcoin or use it to the fuel the heating and air conditioning of homes / buildings, electric vehicles, etc. ?
Hard to make sense of it all and I am skeptical about the future of Bitcoin or any of the other digital currencies in existence today, though I suspect some form of "digital currency" will replace paper currency and coins one day.