bitcoin

Bitcoin Bulls Are Still Upbeat On Year Anniversary Of All-Time High – Forbes


Bitcoin may not be dead, but it’s certainly fallen a long way from the heady highs of late 2017. One year ago today the bitcoin price peaked at a little over $19,000, ending a year of bitcoin and cryptocurrency mania that saw billions of dollars poured into ambitious initial coin offerings (ICOs) and bold predictions that “this time it’s different.”

Inevitably, the year-long bitcoin party came to a crushing end, leaving those who had piled in nursing painful loses. The bitcoin price has been on a severe downward trend throughout 2018 as investor fears around regulation and institutional investment mount. Bitcoin is down 83% since its all-time high, according to prices from the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange.

Bitcoin bulls and the crypto faithful have managed to remain upbeat in the face of market collapse, promising they have funds to wait out the so-called crypto winter bear market even as many make cuts to keep costs down.

Bitcoin investors have been eagerly seeking signs that the next bull run could be on the horizon.Getty

Now, the chief executive of bitcoin payments processor BitPay, Stephen Pair, has predicted bitcoin and cryptocurrencies will become widely used in as little as three to five years—something that could have a drastic effect on the bitcoin price.

“Our thesis at BitPay is that all digital assets, or most digital assets, will be issued on a blockchain. And then most payments will be conducted on a blockchain. And we’re building a platform for that future. So I think you’re really looking somewhere in the three-to-five-year time frame,” Pair told CNBC’s Squawk Box.

“I used to say 10 years, but now I think it’s more like three to five years until you can go into a restaurant, a retail establishment, and everybody’s going to expect that that store will be able to accept a blockchain payment.”

Low bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption has been partly blamed for the sell-0ff throughout 2018, with many disappointed last year’s epic bull run did not trigger a flood of businesses accepting digital tokens. Some have suggested it won’t be until the likes of U.S. online retail giant Amazon begin accepting bitcoin that people start using it for regular transactions.

The bitcoin price peaked on this day one year ago as crypto mania gripped the world.Coindesk

Meanwhile, the CEO of the Boston-based fintech startup Circle as said both bitcoin and ethereum, the third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, appear to be oversold after the recent price falls.

Bitcoin and many other major digital tokens tanked in November after a civil war amongst bitcoin cash developers and miners caused panic and led to investors bailing out of their positions, wiping billions from market capitalizations.

“[Bitcoin] is certainly going to be worth more than it is today,” Jeremy Allaire told Squawk Box. “The key thing with bitcoin is [that] it’s unique in its security and scale. And as an idea that we need a scarce [and] non-sovereign store of value that individuals can hold, and hold in a protected fashion, [Bitcoin] is attractive all around the world.”



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