Bitcoin’s liquidity makes it similar to gold: OpenNode’s Nik Bhatia

While Bitcoin’s ability to dominate the financial system has been supported by the masses, the factors that will eventually speed up the shift towards Bitcoin adoption remain a mystery. Discussing this in detail, OpenNode and Tantra Labs’ Research Strategist, Nik Bhatia, featured on What Bitcoin Did podcast, to support Bitcoin as an answer against centralised and monopolistic money creation by central banks. He said,

“Bitcoin is definitely a savings technology and definitely a transactional technology. They both are important. Bitcoin as freedom of speech, money, transactional platform and technology that allows global participation is as important or if not more.”

While drawing similarities between gold and Bitcoin as scarce assets, Bhatia envisioned that gold, Bitcoin and the U.S. treasuries will be in the same conversation as a triumvirate of risk-free assets that dominate the reserve base of the world. He added,

“The liquidity is what makes Bitcoin similar to gold. It’s the fact that you can sell it for dollars or other currencies anywhere on the planet. There is not a defined market or exchange that you have to enter to participate in buying or selling Bitcoin. Gold is the same thing.”

Additionally, Bhatia also highlighted Bitcoin’s “slow and steady build” in value, with adoption from individuals and institutions. Bhatia also spoke about how most of the global macro hedge funds are exposed to Bitcoin “as they cannot afford to be without that convexity.”

As an important factor to Bitcoin’s mass adoption, Bhatia supported the development of Lightning Network as it helps Bitcoin improve its confirmation time for every transaction. He ended the discussion by saying,

“We also need to be able to spend it (Bitcoins) at the speed of light without the burden of block confirmations.”