At press time, the father of cryptocurrency has entered a two-week low and is now trading for just over $3,700. While this price is still higher than anything we may have experienced in late 2018 or even in January of 2019, enthusiasts have gotten used to hanging around the $3,800, $3,900 and $4,000 marks since mid-February, so enthusiasts are a little disappointed regarding the sudden fall.
Chart by DLavrov
Cryptocurrency analyst Willy Woo suggests that bitcoin trading has decreased somewhat over the past few weeks. He also hints that further declines may be coming soon:
“The last time the market was more indecisive was at the start of 2018. Zones of minimal long + short positioning have historically coincided with bearish price action during bear markets (the opposite is true for bull markets). When undecided, ‘the trend is your friend’ prevails.”
As usual, bitcoin is not alone in its present state. Major competing forms of crypto – such as Ethereum and Litecoin – are down by four and three percent respectively, while bitcoin cash is down nearly five percent. Ripple’s XRP has also fallen by just shy of two percent in the last week.
Interestingly, interest in crypto amongst corporations and large businesses appears to be thriving. Recently, it was reported that Electronics firm Tagomi Holdings hosting a new funding round and garnered nearly $30 million from entities like Pantera Capital and Paradigm, a Yale-backed fund.
Dan Morehead – CEO and Co-CIO of Pantera – explained:
“We view the development of an electronic agency offering as a critical step in empowering funds like Pantera to have complete control and anonymity when transacting in digital assets.”
Unfortunately, some believe that cryptocurrencies pose major problems for payment networks and describe the idea of using digital currencies to purchase goods and services as “ludicrous.” One such person is analyst Lisa Ellis of Moffett Nathanson, who recently mocked the idea of purchasing coffee with bitcoin in a note to the company’s clients.
She also explains:
“Cryptocurrency systems (e.g. bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple) are potentially disruptive to private payment systems. Their core design characteristics – which are aimed at enabling ‘freedom of money’ – are in direct contrast to the characteristics of most traditional, private payment systems.”
Recently, it was announced that JP Morgan would release its own private cryptocurrency. While this ultimately moved bitcoin’s price up a bit, the effects haven’t lasted long, and roughly $400 billion has been wiped away from the crypto market since January of 2018.
The good news, however, is that indicators suggest bitcoin did bottom out in December, meaning selling pressures may finally be evening out, and we can look forward to bitcoin potentially moving up in the coming months as things steady further.
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