How Bitcoin is making waves in the luxury market

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐁𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐮𝐱𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭

This piece is available to buy in Bitcoin at Dadiani Gallery in London. It's a sculpture made out of a used Formula 1 car engine.

(𝐂𝐍𝐍) When Bitcoin and a subsequent raft of cryptocurrencies first landed in the early part of the decade, many people -- including noted economists and finance experts -- dismissed them as a fad.

These new forms of digital money were viewed as little more than capitalist Tamagotchis, currencies with no value to anyone except those looking to buy illicit items.

The raft of coffee shops selling lattes for Bitcoins have gone some way to disprove these negative perceptions, but the availability of luxury items like jewelry, cars and even fine art have really stated cryptocurrencies' case for permanence -- nearly a decade after they first came about.

In traditional sterling, the piece by artist Mike O'Connor would be expected to fetch between £25,000 and £30,000 (between $32,000 and $38,000).

"Many economists dismissed it as a flawed form of money, something that could never achieve the level of adoption that it has," said Dr. Garrick Hileman, an economic historian at the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics.
"Today we estimate 5 to 10 million unique active users of cryptocurrencies, and in my opinion that's nothing short of a minor economic miracle."

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are now accepted by businesses of all kinds -- and while some, like this bar in Berlin, are no doubt trading off the novelty factor, many see it as the future of their industry.

𝐁𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬

The market leader is still Bitcoin, its name now so engrained in this alternative economy that it has become a catch-all moniker for other currencies, just like "Hoover" has become a name for all vacuum cleaners.
Despite fluctuations in value, withdrawal issues, a potentially dangerous "hard fork" schism and what Hileman calls "internal governance challenges," Bitcoin has defied expectations and passed the $4,000 mark for the first time in August.
Only six years ago, in mid-2011, one Bitcoin was worth just $1. One expert, Saxo Bank's Kay Van Petersen, believes that in 10 years, the price of Bitcoin could reach as much as $100,000.

Bitcoin is primarily a digital currency, but in 2013, Mike Caldwell of Salt Lake City, Utah took it upon himself to physicalize the currency by minting the first Bitcoin coin.

𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧

With cryptocurrencies seemingly here for the long run, more and more industries are using them.
Microsoft and Paypal are among the more established companies now accepting Bitcoin, alongside all kinds of businesses across the world -- including pubs, plumbers and tattoo parlors.
One market that could prove something of a game-changer is the ever-investing art world, where art-for-Bitcoin is being pioneered by London gallery owner Eleesa Dadiani, of the eponymous Dadiani Gallery.

n her Mayfair, London base of operations -- which deals primarily with older, established artists such as sculptor Michael Sandle and painter Keith Milow -- Dadiani explains how she became interested in cryptocurrencies. "I looked into it a few years ago, but it didn't really mean much to me ... I have no computing or financial background, it was too abstract for me to embrace at that point," she said. "But through this gallery, I started to discover ways in which the business model can run better."

For Dadiani, the realities of selling work in Bitcoin are nearly as simple as accepting traditional tender. "Everything we have in the gallery is for sale with cryptocurrency," she said. "It's done very simply, it requires the other party to have a digital wallet and takes a matter of moments. We accept Bitcoin, Etherium, Etherium classic, Live Coin/NEM, Ripple. I'm open to accepting others."
A serious investment

A painting of rapper Notorious BIG is available on online gallery site Bitpremier.com for 2.946 Bitcoin (or about $10,000, for the more traditional buyer).

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