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The Reports Are Wrong: Crypto Is Alive, And Here Is Why
News about Bitcoin's supposed death was a part of the crypto market ever since the coin was originally launched, a decade ago. Since then, the coin has “died” over 300 times, and on countless different occasions. As we know today, every such report in the last 10 years was wrong, as Bitcoin is still fully alive and functional today. So, why should this time be any different?
The first time Bitcoin's death was announced came in 2010. At the time, BTC was trading at $0.23. A year later, this “dead” coin surged to nearly $8 per coin. The next time Bitcoin was pronounced dead was in 2013 after the New York Magazine released a report titled ‘Bitcoin Sees the Grim Reaper'. After this was published, Bitcoin surged once again, hitting $100 as a result.
Only three months after that, another death prediction appeared on the internet, this time by a Medium post. How did Bitcoin respond? It surged to above $600 per coin.
The pattern continues, and year after year, Bitcoin is “dying”, only to come back with a new all-time high. Many now believe that these obituaries are crucial for every next surge that Bitcoin is about to experience. So, what do experienced investors do when Bitcoin is pronounced dead? They invest.
How The Sentiments Change With The Market
As many are already aware of, 2018 was not a good year for cryptocurrencies, with many of them experiencing large losses in the last 11 months. Bitcoin, as well as countless altcoins, peaked in early January, and have been on a drop ever since. This has caught countless projects off-guard, including startups, ICOs, as well as investors.
The situation was further damaged by the US SEC's decision to constantly reject Bitcoin ETF applications. Goldman Sachs and the New York Stock Exchange announced a huge project which was supposed to result in a launch of a crypto exchange called Bakkt. The exchange gathered a lot of support for many influential companies, including Microsoft itself.
However, due to several reasons — the market crash almost certainly being one of the bigger ones — the project was postponed for early 2019. In the meanwhile, crypto-skeptics continued calling Bitcoin a scam, and even “a mother of all scams”.
However, this was to be expected, as the usual behavior when the crypto market experiences financial difficulties seem to be criticism and death predictions. This situation is a complete opposite of what is happening during periods of financial growth when the hype grows bigger and bigger every time.
Why Is Crypto Not Dead?
As mentioned, there are many who are deeply skeptical of cryptocurrencies, including influential individuals, financial institutions, banks, and even governments. Bitcoin has been called a bubble more times than anyone can count, at this point. However, the concept of a bubble did not arrive with crypto, and it has been around for centuries, dating as far back as 1637.
Things such as the stock market or the value of the US dollar were never expected to crash, but it still happened. The same has happened to traditional startups, and it was witnessed in countless other examples, so with that in mind, why should crypto and blockchain be different?
One reason is the fact that it is the most secure payment engine in the world, which is also decentralized at the same time. Not only that, but many claim that different patterns in its behavior might lead to Bitcoin getting the status of digital gold. Some optimistic claims even see it as the next global reserve.
In case of blockchain technology, it already has countless use cases, and its biggest feature is decentralization itself. The online trends change and evolve over time, and as years go by, more and more people become concern regarding the safety of their information. The internet has become a crucial part of our lives and businesses, and the information that follows needs to be stored somewhere.
People would rather choose to have it stored on a distributed ledger than in a private database of some company which might misuse it or sell it for profit. Forcing the change will always be a bad move, but the transition has already started naturally, and it will likely continue in the following years. Along the way, this technology might solve some of the largest social issues in the real world.
The potential of blockchain certainly allows such things, and many big corporations have already recognized it. Despite the fact that they have yet to integrate blockchain into their business practices, just considering it and exploring different possibilities is more than enough for now.
Blockchain brings trust in storing online data, and crypto brings fast, safe payment solutions. Both technologies are designed with transparency and decentralization in mind, which makes them safer, more trustworthy, as well as much more practical in a modern society.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.