Happy 13th Birthday, Bitcoin! How much longer will you live?

Bitcoin was launched with the creation of the genesis block on January 3rd, 2009 and turns 13 years old this January 2022. Despite multiple obituaries having been written by Central Banks and financiers, bitcoin has gone through a tumultuous childhood and has now entered its teen years. The top bitcoin holders control a greater share of the cryptocurrency than the most affluent American households control in dollars, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The study showed that the top 10,000 bitcoin accounts hold 5 million bitcoins, an equivalent of approximately $232 billion. In the last 13 years, Bitcoin has either been used as a store of value, to facilitate millions of dollars of ransomware payments in 2021 or in multiple other criminal enterprise to the extend that the US Government regularly auctions off Bitcoins seized from criminals as reported by CNBC.

Nevertheless, bitcoin does seem set for a robust youth with supporters ranging from Jack Dorsey, who believe that Bitcoin has the potential to change the world, to Michael Saylor of Microstrategy, who keep increasing the number of bitcoins added to their portfolio. Over a 100 million users worldwide use Bitcoin or other cryptocurriences even though over $ 140 Billion worth of bitcoin is lost to people who have forgotten or misplaced their keys.
As bitcoin approaches adulthood by 2027, it is likely that it would have finally breathed it's last under the pressure of increased regulatory scrutiny, a destructive carbon footprint, and competition from other more environmentally friendly "cryptocurrencies" at a fraction of its value that scale better, process faster with far more complex transactions. But, the youthful bitcoin will not have died in vain. For it has lit a fire under central banks to start thinking about issuing digital versions of their own Central bank Digital Currencies setting off a revolution to provide a low-cost payment option that everyone has access to, thereby increasing financial inclusion and in the long term potentially financial stability.