Bitcoin: the terrible 2018 was finally over

6 years ago - Published in Fintech Land

2018 went down as one of the worst years for Bitcoin and the entire digital currency market. The world’s most dominant digital currency lost over 80 percent of its value over the course of the year. In December 2017, the value of Bitcoin surged to almost $20k. However, the digital currency ended 2018 below the $4k level.

Bitcoin was not the only digital currency that was affected. The entire altcoin market is also struggling to stay afloat. Ethereum (ETH) also saw a decrease of about 90 percent, as it fell from nearly $1,500 in December 2017 to about $130 at the close of 2018.

Other digital currency firms are also having a hard time in the industry. Crypto-adjacent firms, such as Gigawatt – American BTC mining firm – filed for bankruptcy. Even Steemit – a social media platform powered by blockchain dropped 70% of its workers.

As the values of digital currencies continue to plunge, it becomes less profitable to mine them. The rejection of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fun is also part of the reason for the massive decline in the value of Bitcoin. Another issue faced by the crypto market was insecurity. Almost $1 billion worth of cryptos were stolen from trading platforms in the first six months of 2018.

Some analysts in the digital currency space have found reasons to be hopeful this year. As such, they have highlighted some of the things that should be expected in 2019.

Institutional Investors Will Continue to Boost Digital Currency Markets
Last year, top banks set up digital currency desks, increasing the legitimacy of the alternative investment. That trend will continue this year. Speaking at the SG FinTech Festival last year, CEO of Ripple Inc. – Brad Garlinghouse – said that a lot of banks were working to incorporate the platform with their systems.

Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs are also creating ways to allow their clients to invest in digital currency securely. In 2019, banks and other financial institutions will likely put more money into digital currency projects, says the head of business development at FXM Capital – Albright.

Major firms such as Starbucks and Microsoft have secured a strategic partnership with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) to enable customers to pay for goods with Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital currencies. The firms have collaborated to launch a product called Bakkt. This product would allow customers to convert digital currencies into USD which they can spend on Starbucks products.

In a statement, Maria Smith, the vice president of partnerships and payments for Starbucks said “It (Starbucks) will play a very important role in building trusted, regulated, and practical applications for users to exchange their digital currencies with USD for use at Starbucks.

According to Samantha Albright, other firms will start seeing the benefits that Starbucks gets when they start allowing their customers to pay for products with digital currency using faster, newer infrastructure.