With its price as low as $6,300, Bitcoin has been proclaimed dead by the majority of mainstream media outlets. Once again. But is it true that the world’s first and by far the most popular cryptocurrency has run out of steam and is more likely to collapse than it is to ever go up in price? If you believe that the answer is ‘Yes’, then you might want to take a closer look at this article.
Raw facts first. Bitcoin has surged 2,572% over the course of only three years. That’s 47 times the expansion of the S&P 500 index over the same period. In December 2017 one BTC was worth $19,700, which roughly translates into a return of over 8,500,000% over the course of 6 years.
“I think the tide has turned against it. I’m not saying its time has passed, but there is a notion that the sun seems to be setting,” says Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money.
Which is hard not to believe, especially when you consider a whopping 55% decline in the BTC price since the beginning of 2018. However, as of now, we’ve heard over 300 “Bitcoin is dead” stories. The first dates back to 2011, when the price of the world’s premiere crypto has plummeted from $29 to $14 in just three days.
Now imagine all the people (maybe even including you) who have missed out on an opportunity to buy Bitcoin back in 2011 simply because it was proclaimed dead. With an opportunity to invest in Bitcoin early already gone, some experts believe there is still an opportunity to invest in the cryptocurrency market now. And that may very well be true.
Andreessen Horowitz, an American venture capital firm run by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, is heavily investing in Bitcoin as you read this article. The company was an early investor in Facebook and Airbnb and can boast an unparalleled instinct for new technologies. For Andreessen Horowitz, the crypto market looks so promising that only two months ago it has launched a crypto fund of its own. The company believes it is during the downfall when you lay the foundation for future long-term success.
The trading volume of Bitcoin, though lower than in the beginning of 2018 when the overall cryptocurrency market was booming, is still comparable to that of 2017.
Should the price of Bitcoin surge, the same can be expected from the majority of well-established cryptocurrencies — Ethereum, XRP, EOS, Stellar etc. But of course, not all cryptocurrencies are destined to survive the bloodbath of today.
Now, when you know what the smart money actually thinks about Bitcoin, it is probably too early to announce BTC to be dead. Bitcoin, and the asset class known as cryptocurrencies is currently in a deep recession. However, there is still a chance for them to rise once again, as they did many times over the course of 7 years.
