Charlie Lee Said You Can't Compare Bitcoin to Tulip Mania - and He's Right

The mainstream media is comparing Bitcoin to the "Tulip Mania" of the 17th century, a famous speculative bubble of tulip prices. But Bitcoin is not in a price bubble...

During Tulip Mania, tulips would soar to such astronomical value that 10 tulip bulbs could buy a mansion. Prices eventually collapsed in 1637, making the flower worthless and creating a lesson for all speculative investors. That's what the media wants you to believe, at least.

But appearing on the "Glenn Beck Program" on Dec. 7, 2017, Litecoin creator Charlie Lee says comparing Bitcoin's price surge to Tulip Mania is wrong.

Bitcoin"You can't compare it to the tulip bubble because there's actually real value in Bitcoin," Lee said on the program.

He's right, and that's why Bitcoin prices could grow 29 times higher by 2030...

Why Bitcoin Is Not a Modern Tulip Mania

It's true Bitcoin prices are volatile, as we saw yesterday, with prices trading as low as $14,057.30 and as high as $17,899.70. But Bitcoin isn't the next Tulip Mania.

There's a clear distinction between the two: Flower bulbs have limited value, and Bitcoin is changing the global economy.

During the Dutch Golden Age of the 1600s, the Netherlands was the richest country in Europe, according to Focus-Economics.com.

With the country's wealth growing, tulips became the "must-own item of the day to show off one's 'fortune.'" While the flowers may look aesthetically pleasing, that's the limit of their value.

In comparison, Bitcoin is only eight years old, but it has the power to create long-lasting change for our society.

For example, in January, the United Nations World Food Program sent cryptocurrency vouchers to Syrian refugees - instead of cash - so they buy food.

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Programs like this allow for donations to directly reach the people they're supposed to help, as well as help organizations keep track of who has received aid and who still needs it.

That's why Bitcoin's price isn't the next Tulip Mania. Far from it.

And it's Bitcoin's ability to completely disrupt entire industries that could send the cryptocurrency to $500,000 per coin by 2030...

How Bitcoin Will Transform the Payment Industry

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In May, Blockchain CEO Peter Smith and venture capitalist Jeremy Liew predicted the price of Bitcoin would reach $500,000 in the next 13 years.

One of their reasons is that Bitcoin could completely disrupt remittance payments, the transfer of money from individuals in the United States to their home countries. In 2015 alone, the Pew Research Center estimated U.S. remittance payments reached $133 billion.

Unfortunately, the remittance process is flawed because of long wait times and massive fees when transferring money internationally.

The average global fee to send a remittance payment in Q3 2017 was 7.21%, according to the World Bank.

On top of the huge fees, receiving the payment can take five or more days, according to SmartAsset.com.

But thanks to Bitcoin's function as a currency, people can send payments faster.

The average transaction time is just nine minutes and 10 seconds.

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Now, the average Bitcoin transaction fee is high, at $14.87.

But as the Bitcoin community decides how to improve the network, transaction times could get even faster, and fees could plunge even lower. For example, Litecoin was created with speed and fast transactions in mind. It has an average transaction fee of $0.14 and transaction time of one minute and 36 seconds.

We're still in the early stages of Bitcoin and its capacity to disrupt the global economy, but it's clear we aren't experiencing another tulip bubble.

Cryptocurrencies are more than just a trend.

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