Since the day I learned about bitcoin, I’ve been convinced that it will replace a large segment of gold bullion investors. I feel like I’ve gotten validation for that thesis on the heels of Peter Diamandis’s announcement that he swapping some of his gold investments for bitcoin.

The famed entrepreneur is best known for his creation of the X prize and as the cofounder of the Zero-Gravity Corporation (an aerospace company that operates weightless flights for researchers and tourists). In a blog post on bitcoin Diamandis argues that the currency will do for money what email did for communication. He also lays out what he sees as five phases in the development of digital currency (much of which is based on comments from Second Market founder Barry Silbert).

Peter Diamandis’s Five Phases of Bitcoin Adoption

• Phase 1: Bitcoin’s “deceptive, experimental phase” from 2009 to 2011.
• Phase 2: The early adopter phase from 2011-2012.
• Phase 3: The venture capital phase from 2013 to mid-2014.
• Phase 4: The Wall Street Phase, which will be marked by “institutional money acknowledging digital currencies as an asset class,” from mid-2014 to 2015.
• Phase 5: Mass global consumer adoption starting in 2015.

Diamandis believes we are smack dab in the middle of phase 3 right now. If that’s the case, expect the value of bitcoin to surge in the coming years. It makes me wish I had more money to invest in bitcoin. Once the broader gold-bug community and hedge fund mangers see value in the currency, it could forever change people’s definition of hard assets. At the very least, it’s changed Diamandis’s:

“(Bitcoin) is an “exponential currency” that will change the way we think about money. Much the same way email changed the way we thought of mail. (Can you remember life before email?). … I’ve been tracking Bitcoin since its inception, and my confidence has grown to the point where I’m now trading in a portion of my gold holdings for bitcoin, buying it and accepting bitcoin for the Abundance 360 CEO Summit.

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