Bitcoin’s role as a payment system and alternative currency was the focus of a recent conversation between Roundtable anchor, Rob Nelson, and Ari Pine, Co-Head of Digital Exotics at BlockFills.

The discussion explored bitcoin’s advantages over traditional finance (TradFi) and why people might consider moving into the cryptocurrency space. Pine highlighted bitcoin's utility as a decentralized payment system and its appeal as a neutral, finite asset in a volatile global financial environment.

Rob Nelson opened the discussion by questioning why someone should move into bitcoin or crypto instead of staying in traditional finance. He pointed out misconceptions about bitcoin and explained, “Bitcoin is digital gold, it's an asset, it's actually finite, limited, and it has a huge upscale in supply and demand.”

Ari Pine emphasized that bitcoin offers something unique compared to the traditional financial system, saying, "What bitcoin represents is an alternative banking system, it’s an alternative to the dollar. You don’t have to go to a bank, and the banking fees you're paying are the transaction fees associated with bitcoin." Pine also explained the significance of bitcoin’s limited supply, noting it was created in the aftermath of the financial crisis as a more stable currency.

Pine further discussed bitcoin’s appeal in a world of geopolitical uncertainty, particularly for countries seeking a neutral reserve currency. “In addition to this idea of a payment system, digital gold, there’s this idea of it being potentially a second currency or the potential currency to peg to,” Pine noted, citing examples like Ecuador, which has adopted bitcoin as one of its currencies to mitigate reliance on traditional powers like the U.S. or China.