What is BITSHARES and is it a good investment?

What is BitShares?
BitShares leverages blockchain technology to create “free market solutions by leveraging the power of globally decentralized consensus and decision making.” According to its founder, Daniel Larimer, however, it is more than that. In a blog post, Larimer explains that BitShares is a software, a network, a ledger, a bank, an exchange, and a currency.
BitShares is a software that provides “a distributed multi-user database with update permissions managed by a predefined set of rules as well as public key cryptography.”
BitShares is also a decentralized network run by users around the world, which keep their databases synchronized as per the rules defined by the BitShares software. This allows the BitShares network to run as long as there are at least two participants in the network communicating with each other over the Internet.

Despite its broad definition and multi-faceted features, BitShares is most known for being a decentralized exchange for “smart assets” that are backed by BitShares’ cryptocurrency and can be pegged against traditional assets such as the USD or gold.

Should You Invest in BitShares?
Like with most cryptocurrency projects, the investment story for bitshares focuses on the success or failure of its platform. BitShares has been around since 2014 developing its platform that allows users to digitize “real world” assets and trade them on the blockchain in a decentralized manner. If the digitization of traditional assets and securities becomes industry standard in the financial industry and if BitShares manages to become the go-to platform for this, then the value of bitshares (BTS) will skyrocket.
An emerging platform of interest is the OpenLedger Decentralized Conglomerate, the world’s first blockchain powered conglomerate, which is based on BitShares technology. OpenLedger hosts several projects, such as GetGame, eDEV.one, and Apptrade; GetGame is based on game-related ideas with a focus on VR, AR and blockchain-based creations, while eDEV.one is a freelancing platform based on blockchain technology.
Having said that, the competition from established international exchanges who are working on a similar blockchain-based solution could become a threat to BitShares success story. There are also other competitors in the blockchain space who are working on similar solutions such as the Waves platform, which has gained substantial momentum in the past six to twelve months and is positioning itself as a tough competitor for BitShares. If BitShares does not manage to outcompete other market participants, then it will be unlikely for its native cryptocurrency to “go to the moon.”