Bitcoin so far in 2019 has more than doubled. Thats right, its up 125%. BTChas hit as high as $8,200 in recent days. It seems probable that theChinese are buying up Bitcoinwith the trade war volatility.
When Bitcoin exploded into the public eye in 2017, the vast majority of the general public had never before heard of the cryptocurrency created by Satoshi Nakamoto. The last time Bitcoin grew so fast in a month, it went as high as $20,000.
Meltem Demirors, Chief Strategy Officer at Coin Shares, spoke to CNBC about Bitcoins rally, stating that 2019s narrative has shifted back to Bitcoin, from other speculative assets.
Some are even implying that Bitcoin threatens to Take Power From The U.S. Federal Reserve. Thats a bit far fetched but a Bitcoin ban could happen. Indeed economists dont like decentralized money. Even Facebooks stablecoin will be highly centralized and tethered to fiat currencies.
Bitcoin is now sitting just under its 52-week highs. Two things could happen, it could pull back down or rise even higher. I think it will actually rise and stabilize closer to $10,000 in the spring of 2019.
Think about it though, altcoin season is here. While nearly 5,000 cryptocurrency fans gathered at the Consensus conference in New York this early week, investors on the other side of the globe in Asia and China appeared to be the ones pulling the levers behind bitcoins seven-day, 40% price surge. Bitcoins rise has been sudden and its not exactly unprecedented.
Bitcoin likes the spring and sudden jumps and volatility is not unheard of for the cryptocurrency first mover. Blockchain has matured since Bitcoins wild rise to $20,000, and so the horizon of the token economy and the future of digital assets in general look very different in 2019. Bakkt, Fidelity, Facebooks project Libra and even the future of public blockchains overcoming critical challenges of scalability look promising.
Even Bloomberg thinks Bitcoin hasgrown up. CNBC, well, they usually like to focus on the FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt). Traditionally what CNBC says does move the needle. A bit like how a POTUS tweet moves the stock market in recent months (unfortunate as that is).
Demirors added that Bitcoin is the worlds largest crypto by market cap and is a brand that is recognized by people all over the world. Bitcoins network is the most secure network, she added. Even Microsoft is investing in the Bitcoin networks future. Its highly likely then another major factor to driving Bitcoins recent resurgence is the Lightning Network itself.
Bitcoin has a lot of momentum. Think of Fidelitys Bitcoin trade execution service, Bakkts crypto futures, TD Ameritrade and E*Trade getting into the cryptocurrency game, and even retail chains across the U.S. indirectly accepting cryptocurrency payments.
Whatever you think Bitcoin stands for as the leader that the entire new digital asset class appears to be tethered to?-?immutable, decentralized, non-sovereign and censorship-resistant money, etc., Bitcoin has an aura of invincibility and of gaining investor confidence in mid 2019.
It also has a cycle of continual booms and busts that in a sense foreshadows greater blockchain adoption that is eventually very inclusive of cryptocurrencies and new utilization of tokens in a hybrid cryptoeconomic global system.
