Bitcoin began the monetary revolution we are witnessing on Halloween 2008, a month and a half after Lehman Brothers’ spectacular collapse. Bitcoin demonstrated that different monetary arrangements are possible thanks to technological advancements: money does not have to be controlled by a government or limited to sovereign territory.

BTC is here to stay, thirteen years later, after repeatedly renewing all-time highs despite bans and curses. Perhaps not exactly as Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system,” but certainly not as a wasteful speculative asset with no social value. Instead, Bitcoin could become the world’s settlement currency.

BTC has always had the potential to be used as an international payment system. It includes an ironclad decentralized infrastructure, dubbed the Bitcoin blockchain, that can process and record transactions taking place all over the world.

Bitcoin created a global network that is always available for anyone with access to a smartphone or computer in less than a decade, with no central authority coordinating efforts, channeling investments, or forming partnerships. To put things in perspective, it took Visa decades, countless business agreements, and a massive investment of money and talent to build the incredible network that is now used by billions of people.

On the downside, BTC, the network’s native currency, remains volatile. Bitcoin may appeal to investors seeking higher returns, but it may cause concern for those looking to pay their rent or buy groceries. As a result of its volatility, BTC’s appeal and, as a result, its use as a widely accepted medium of exchange that can facilitate everyday transactions is limited.

On the other hand, the same characteristics that make bitcoin volatile — its lack of backing and a managing issuer — also allow it to provide something no other currency, public or private, can today: seamless cross-border and cross-jurisdictional transferability. While a bank customer figures out how to initiate a foreign exchange transaction, a bitcoin can travel the world through various digital wallets.

So, how can these opposing characteristics be reconciled so that bitcoin can function as a truly global currency? First, by welcoming rather than vilifying speculators. People and institutions looking to make a quick buck by buying and selling bitcoin not only add liquidity to the market but also help to shape bitcoin prices and (again, counterintuitively) reduce extreme price swings. The greater the number of people trading bitcoin, the more predictable it becomes.

More than that, the BTC network is transactional in nature, serving as a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system” rather than simply a secure storage facility for valuables. In this light, bitcoin can be viewed as a global monetary vehicle that allows anyone, anywhere to send and receive money, rather than as digital gold bars carefully hidden from view.

The second step in improving bitcoin’s use as a global currency is to have as many reliable exchanges as possible ready to buy and sell bitcoin in various jurisdictions. Unhosted wallets are unquestionably valuable for those seeking monetary privacy but who are also capable of creating and maintaining their own digital wallets and private keys.

What matters most for non-tech savvy people who want to make safe, quick, and inexpensive international transfers and remittances is to find a dependable custodian who can help them easily meet their needs. That’s what trustworthy exchanges can do, especially those with a global presence and the ability to accept local currency in one country, move bitcoin across borders, and deliver local currency in another.

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BTC could become a powerful option not only for international senders and receivers but also for regulators, in these circumstances. Senders and receivers don’t have to worry about volatility because bitcoin can easily move from one digital wallet to another, no matter where they are. They can buy in and out of bitcoin as soon as the international transaction is completed in a liquid market with exchanges open 24 hours a day, not days as in the current correspondent banking system.

The volatility would be reserved for investors and speculators in the origin and destination countries who are willing to take on more risk in exchange for higher returns. As a result, speculation could subsidize international payments. And the exchanges in both of these countries would handle moving bitcoin and providing each counterparty with their preferred exposure, whether it was sovereign money (senders and receivers) or BTC (investors and speculators).

Regulators, on the other hand, would be able to track domestic and international money flows in real-time, regardless of jurisdiction, because all transactions are recorded in the Bitcoin blockchain. Cross-border payments with bitcoin can offer a neutral, resilient, and compliant alternative with lower transaction costs thanks to the intermediation of exchanges, which would be responsible for identifying buyers and sellers. There is no other solution, public or private, that compares.