Bitcoin’s dramatic rise in the past year had many observers terming it as one of the biggest hypothetical obsessions in history. One thing that will enable Bitcoin to secure a place in the bubble record books is the 2018 cryptocurrency crash.
Other virtual coins have also gone down to zero; following the path of Pets.com and other enticing initial public offerings that emerged in the early 2000s. Interestingly, Bitcoin has always bounced back from huge losses but it is not clear whether it can do the same again considering the fact that the world understands cryptocurrencies and has decided on whether to invest or not. Bulls predict the eventual recovery of Nasdaq and state that institutional investors are a representation of the huge pool of potential cryptocurrency buyers, though supervisory and security concerns have till now sidelined big money managers.
Peter Smith, chief executive officer of Blockchain Ltd, says that one has to see the reverse of the market before seeing the piling in of institutions. On Thursday, Blockchain Ltd. introduced a crypto trading platform particularly for professional investors.
According to Bloomberg composite prices, Bitcoin’s Friday decline to 4.2% has been the lowest since November. As of 6.22 a.m. in New York, Bitcoin traded at $5,894 which is down to 59 percent for the year, and seems to be heading to a 14 percent loss in the second quarter.
Other coins that have also slumped include Ether and Litecoin. Additionally, the collective value of tokens as tracked by CoinMarketCap.com fell to $236 billion. Interestingly, the combined value of tokens was about $830 billion at crypto-mania’s peak.
It has been challenging to identify fresh catalysts for the decline of Biytcoin on Friday but hacks at two South Korean exchanges and a Japanese regulatory clampdown in Japan have in the recent weeks weighed on sentiment. Regulators across the globe have intensified scrutiny of cryptocurrencies in the wake of concerns that they act as bleeding grounds for illegal activities such as money laundering, fraud and market manipulation.
However, tokens that are lesser known have been hit the hardest. It is estimated that dead coins amount to 800 and are currently worth nothing. Cainopsy indicates that the number of dead coins could be more than 1,000. An analysis by the ICO advisory firm Satis Group indicates that less than 4% of initial coin offerings were successful or promising.
Robert Shiller, a Nobel laureate economist, says that there are chances that Bitcoin will not go to zero because it was able to bounce back last year.
