As the price of bitcoin has soared in the past year, incremental retail attention has come to bitcoin (and cryptocurrencies for that matter). This has resulted in the inevitable pump and dump dynamic of a young market ripe for arbitrageurs and populated by retail investors, high frequency traders and technologists, alike. The market dynamic has led to a more than 20x price increase this year and thus, logically, people ask: how much is it really worth?

Whilst comparisons to tulips to CDO's abound, the reality is that, contrary to its past asset bubble contenders, Bitcoin relies on a technology that has and will undoubtedly continue to change the course of history. Bitcoin is but a mere financial representation of the promises of the blockchain. That, in itself, is the fundamental value of bitcoin from a financial perspective.

It follows that unless you are an algorithmic arb. trader, when investing in bitcoin the focus should be on the long run, not on the short run. It is self evident that the role of bitcoin has evolved from that of Satoshi's digital currency to a digital store of value. This, in part, has led bitcoin pricing from the bottom--individuals who believe in the power of a revolutionary technology pledge a fraction (or all) of their wealth to its product (buy a bitcoin). Hence, while Bitcoin displays incessant price volatility, the investment thesis should focus on the long run. Intra-day price movements should be monitored but ultimately not considered central to the continuation of Bitcoin's price appreciation.