Last october alone the value of one bitcoin
has fluctuated by more than a third, falling from around $400 to
$320, and then rising up again to $450. Today it is currently hovering back at
around $400. Such strong price fluctuation makes it infeasible for a day-to-day usage for the majority consumers.
Volatility is thus the main obstacle for the cryptocurrency to its mainstream adoption.
In order to address the issue, Halsey Minor, technology evangelist and founder of CNet, has developed BitReserve, a payments platform and wallet that eliminates the risk of bitcoin price swings for consumers by pegging the value of bitcoin holdings to a fiat currency such as dollars or euros. What it basically does is bring all the best aspects of bitcoin and its underlying blockchain technology to the world of fiat currencies.
"The aim is to reduce volatility to increase widespread adoption of bitcoin," Minor said. "Bitcoin should be the salvation of the US, not the bane."
"We need an egalitarian system - taking back our currency. Why should we give up innovating on the dollar just because the banks have?"
By means of BitReserve it is possible to hold and send value in five different currencies as instantaneously and easily as email, while at the same time eliminating the fees and commissions charged by banks and credit card companies.
BitReserve is the latest in so-called 'bitcoin 2.0' firms - a new wave of cryptocurrency companies drawing in professional and experienced investors and innovators to the digital currency space.
"There were alot of amateurs and hobbyists getting involved early on," Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, told IBTimes UK. "Just like with any new technology, the early days are like the Wild West."
"However the second generation of companies we are seeing coming in now are coming with a wealth of skills and expertise with decades of experience in financial services."
Moreover, BitReserve is the first platform which has been developed for an average consumer, among those directed to stabilizing bitcoin. Among the previously launched ones are Hedgy and TeraExchange.
BitReserve publishes a real-time, verifiable proof of solvency, describing itself as "the world's first fully transparent financial institution".
There is a hope that such transparency will quell customer fears that may still linger from the infamous collapse of the Japanese exchange MtGox, in which thousands of people lost the equivalent of millions of dollars worth of bitcoin.
"What BitReserve does is let real people live in the world of their own currency and take advantage of all the benefits of bitcoin without having to invest in it or take risks with it," Minor said.
"It lets people participate in the world of bitcoin without having to suffer through the volatility, while also dramatically making the market for bitcoin better."
