It may sound exaggerated to say Bitcoin is dead though it certainly has experienced a steep decline of its lifetime. Last year at this point, Bitcoin was nearing $20,000, though today its value is struggling to stay afloat of $3,000. Millions of investors who poured money into the cryptocurrency during its astronomical gains by purchasing the coin at high prices are now going through severely dramatic financial losses. Throughout the year 2018, Bitcoin has suffered major losses and to make the things worse, and regulatory authorities have started to tighten the noose around the crypto market. To put the things in the perspective, today Bitcoin is 83% down to its all-time high value in December last year, according to the data from Bitstamp exchange.
Not all doom and gloom
Despite the negative sentiments, Bitcoin faithful and crypto supporters continue to remain upbeat about the future of digital currency. They claim to have sufficient funds and the resources to bear this downturn in the market even as many embraced measures to keep the cost in check.
Meanwhile, Stephen Pair, the Chief Executive Officer of BitPay (payment processor of Bitcoin) has predicted that in the coming three to five years, cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin will be widely used for payments and transactions – a prediction that can have a drastic effect on the market sentiments and subsequently Bitcoin prices. In a conversation with Squawk Box of CNBC, Pair exuded the confidence that in the coming times, most of the digital assets/payments will be issued/conducted on the blockchain platform and the company is working towards creating the infrastructure for that. The top echelon sounds confident that in coming years, most of the retail outlets, restaurants, and business establishments will start accepting the cryptocurrency through blockchain payment. Pair said he initially thought this development to take at least ten years, but now he foresees all this happening within the next three to five years’ time period.
The observation is aligned with the low adoption of cryptocurrency for the financial transactions which sparked the sell-off of digital assets throughout the year 2018. Many experts are disappointed with the fact that despite the bullish run of the crypto market last year, not many of the businesses have started accepting the digital currency. Some also want the retail giant Amazon to begin accepting Bitcoin as it could possibly lift the falling fortunes of the cryptocurrencies.
Future Hope
Amid the falling value, the CEO of Fintech startup circle said that the crypto market including the likes of Bitcoin and Ethereum seems to be oversold for now. Earlier in November this year, the prices of Bitcoin plummeted following the feud between its miners and cash developers, leading to large sell-off and wiping of billions of dollars from cryptos’ market capitalization. Commenting on the future of Bitcoin, Jeremy Allaire, said that the coin is definitely going to value more than what it worth today. Bitcoin’s security and scale make it a unique proposition and its value lie in its non-sovereign, immutable nature that a person can hold in a protected manner.