Skip to main content

AS PROTESTS IN HONG KONG RAGE ON, IS BITCOIN REALLY A SAFE ALTERNATIVE FOR BUSINESSES?



Hong Kong has become the epicenter of political turmoil as citizens’ lives are being nothing short of invaded by the government. There have been demonstrations ongoing for weeks. As the Special Administrative Region (SAR) is being shaken, businesses are reportedly turning down the Hong Kong dollar in favor of Bitcoin. But is that a safe bet amid the political turmoil?



Businesses Turn to Bitcoin in Hong Kong



Reports have it that businesses are turning down the Hong Kong dollar in favor of Bitcoin as a means of taking a stand against their imperialistic government.

Indeed, looking at the HKD/USD chart, we can see that since July, the Hong Kong dollar has been declining against the US dollar.




We’ve already seen that Bitcoin performs well in times of political and economic uncertainty. As Tech Tic Technologies reported earlier in August, Bitcoin surged $700 as trade tensions between China and the U.S. rose to a new level when President Trump imposed yet another 10% tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods.

However, given the seriousness of the situation and Bitcoin’s pseudonymous nature, the question is whether using it is literally safe.

Bitcoin’s Pseudonymous Nature

Contrary to what most people believe, Bitcoin is not anonymous – at least not in the sense of providing complete anonymity.


While no KYC is required for users to transact over the network, users still have identifiers. The most common is one’s Bitcoin address, the one that you use to send and receive bitcoins. If at any point in time this address is somehow linked to you, all the transactions going in and out of it will also be linked to you. And since Bitcoin runs on an immutable ledger, all transactions are permanently listed there and everyone can access them.

The issue is when people start using exchanges in order to buy or sell Bitcoin. All regulated exchanges require users to go through thorough KYC procedures in which they must provide essential personal information. Hence, it’s entirely possible for someone to track down one’s identity, even if they use Bitcoin.

Given the political tensions in Hong Kong, one wonders whether it is actually safe for business owners to turn to Bitcoin.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Legendary Rock Star Gene Simmons Buys Cardano (ADA) Worth $300,000

Famous rock star Gene Simmons continues his cryptocurrency adventure, this time investing $300,000 in Cardano (ADA). Gene Simmons, the legendary KISS bassist, has made another dip into cryptocurrencies. The famous musician has expressed his belief in Cardano, presuming 2021 would be “the most productive year” for the altcoin. Believing in the Future of Cardano Rock star Gene Klein, aka Gene Simmons, has appeared in online social media with yet another pro-cryptocurrency commentary. This time KISS’s legendary bass guitarist has expressed his opinion on Cardano and its native digital coin ADA. In his  recent publication  on Twitter, Simmons explained one of his fundamental personal reasons for  investing  and holding the altcoin. The musician pointed out that he believes in Cardano because of Hoskinson (Charles) – Cardano’s creator and co-founder of Ethereum. In his tweet, the musician expressed his trust in the altcoin hopping on Hoskinson’s envision that 2021 would b...

Bitcoin Hash Rate Hits All-Time High: Here’s How It Works And How It Affects The Price

Bitcoin intelligence, data, and analytics firm Glassnode found the Bitcoin hash rate hit a new all-time high over the weekend, ten days before the Bitcoin halving event. In other words, miners are putting more computational power into maintaining the Bitcoin network. Because miners must venture electricity and capital intensive computer processors to mine Bitcoin, the increase in hash rate is a bullish sign. It means miners are after the Bitcoin rewards they get from maintaining the network. And they’re venturing the resources to go after those rewards. Is The Bitcoin Hash Rate Correlated With The Price? In general, the Bitcoin price and the hash rate are not correlated. The price is what buyers and sellers agree to pay for one Bitcoin, and there are many factors – external and internal – affecting the price. However, there is a relation between the two. While the price goes up, it’s more profitable to mine, which likely to cause more miners to turn on their mining equ...
  First US Stimulus Check Now Worth Almost $9,000 if Invested in Bitcoin If American citizens used their $1,200 stimulus checks to buy BTC in April 2020, they would have seen a return of over 620%. A bitcoin investment worth $1,200 following the first stimulus checks sent by the US government in April 2020 would have skyrocketed by more than 600% until today to over $8,500. Although this is a spectacular growth for less than a year, the same investment put in Ether would have presented an even better ROI of over 1,000%. Option 1) Stimulus Put In BTC The US government initiated a drastic measure last year to sent stimulus packages to its citizens following the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused numerous disruptions to people’s lives, businesses, and personal finances. Following the initial deal that then-President Donald Trump signed, the Federal Reserve sent out checks worth $1,200 to every adult making below $75,000 per year. The first  reported  cases of people receiving t...