Clem Chambers, the CEO of ADVFN.com, a website dedicated to private investors, recently published a blog post in which he argued that bitcoin (BTC), the flagship cryptocurrency, is actually real money.

Despite claims that bitcoin is not money, Chambers revealed in his post on Forbes that he has “made a lot of money out of crypto” and that he “can tell you categorically that” bitcoin has all the essential properties, or characteristics, of money. Traditional economists define money to be a effective medium-of-exchange (MoE), a store-of-value (SoV), and a unit account. According to Chambers, bitcoin meets all three criteria for money, in addition to “other things.”

Bitcoin Is “An Excellent Means Of Exchange”

Going on to argue that bitcoin is “an excellent means of exchange”, Chambers pointed out that users “can’t reverse a BTC payment like a payment by credit card.” This is a useful feature for merchants as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies bring finality to transactions. Notably, Chambers mentioned “there is now a hard core of people who buy things with credit cards and ‘charge back’ months later.” These people claim that they were either not satisfied with the product or service, or even assert that they did not conduct the disputed transaction. This is often unfair to merchants as they’ve already provided their service, but will ultimately not be compensated.

However, these types of problems, or issues, won’t arise when using bitcoin, as Chamber wrote: 

You can’t do this with bitcoin. You can’t bounce a bitcoin or charge back a bitcoin. You can’t forge a bitcoin. You can’t receive it and claim you didn’t.

“No Multi-Day Banking Delays” With Crypto

Citing other advantages bitcoin and other cryptocurrency payment platforms have over traditional transaction systems, Chambers noted that “BTC arrives in minutes from distant clients” and it’s easy to confirm that the transaction, or payment, has been sent. For cross-border transfers, there are “no multi-day banking delays for payments that may or may not have been sent”, Chambers wrote. He added that users receive “an irreversible notice” their bitcoin payment has been sent out to their address.

In addition to receiving quick and conflict-free payments, Chambers noted there are services available now that allow users to “convert [their] crypto into pounds or dollars with no outrageous currency conversion” rates. Chambers also revealed that a BTC payment “worked for a US Florida client of [theirs]” – even during an emergency situation due to a “recent hurricane while the US bank was evacuated.”

While business-to-business (B2B) transactions involving fiat currencies can only occur during business hours, Chambers mentioned: 

Bitcoin is 24/7/365, the banking system is not. The blockchain works weekends, holidays and evenings, like our international sales staff and our websites.

Bitcoin Is A Store Of Value, & Unit Of Account

Bitcoin is also a SoV, and it’s “ridiculous to point out” that the flagship cryptocurrency was valued at $20,000 over a year ago and it is now trading for only $3,600 – Chambers argued. That’s because “one-yen used to be a gold coin” and if “you look at the history of money and its never-ending narrative of inflation and obsolescence”, then you are able to gain a better perspective, Chambers wrote.

Per the ADVFN.com CEO, “you can [also] use bitcoin as a unit of account.” He pointed out that hundreds of crypto exchanges are using cryptocurrencies as a unit of account and that blockchain-based cryptos are “by definition” associated with a ‘ledger’ – while tokens are “by design encapsulated on a ledger.” He remarked:

To say a bitcoin is not a unit of account is to say an abacus is not a calculating machine.