Sounding Off: Bitcoin needs to move on from its exclusive aura

Each Friday, PhocusWire dissects and debates an industry trend or new development covered by PhocusWire that week.

Like bell-bottom jeans, Bitcoin is the trend that appears to come and go with fairly precise regularity.

It's by no means universally popular (like the aforementioned item of clothing) but Bitcoin has a tendency to get a lot of people talking excitedly every few years.

And it irritates the hell out of many others.

The reason for the latest uptick in chatter around Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies generally is due to its surge in value.

It's around $50,000 for one Bitcoin this week – compared to about $10,000 a year ago. But, lest we forget, Bitcoin was just $400 five years ago.

This illustrates that there is obviously steady growth in something new - nothing wrong with that.

But it is worth remembering how readily the price has often fluctuated wildly for Bitcoin, leading many over the years to question its reliability as a currency that can carry favor beyond its passionate supporters.

It is that last point that, in part, usually gives Bitcoin's detractors the opportunity to put forward their concerns over its validity.

Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency world's biggest fans are often the digital world's most divisive figures (such as Elon Musk) or come across - mostly because of their tactics - as pushy nerds, hell-bent on some kind of "REVOLUTION!" in everything.

Thus the irritation many feel that Bitcoin, for all its levelling-the-playing-field and decentralized benefits, is actually fairly exclusive and enjoyed by some as a way to make a lot of money, rather than a de facto currency that can be used to pay for things like a dollar or euro.

So, in short, cryptos probably have some distance to go before they will be embraced by the likes of travel brands, at a scale that puts them side by side with their traditional currency cousins.