With recent news reporting that over 800 cryptocurrencies are now considered dead, is the end of Bitcoin upon us? Are cryptocurrencies a fad that will be obsolete within 5 years? Cryptocurrency Experts give their insight into whether the death of crypto is upon us.
Max Kortrakul Founder and CEO of social crypto trading platform Carboneum, says:
“Whilst there is uncertainty over the future of Bitcoin, the fact remains that there is a large amount of wealth tied up in the currency; therefore investors will be attracted to it. Its value is a long way from the $20K mark we saw late last year, but even if the price is to settle at $6/7K long term- it remains an exceptionally high price for what is a brand-new form of asset.
“The news that 800 cryptos are now ‘dead’ does not necessarily point to cryptocurrency being a fad. Whilst that is a high number of failed or scam projects that many a well-meaning investor may have lost money on, there are also a far greater amount of genuine, innovative projects that are going about it in exactly the right way. The true success of the crypto-sphere will only become apparent over the coming years as all of these fresh projects mature into the businesses they are aiming to be.
David Sapper, COO at Blockbid says:
I believe that the hype has barely even begun. Only 1% of the global population owning any cryptocurrency and news of banks and financial institutions looking incorporate blockchain technology and invest in cryptocurrencies, I think there will be a more mainstream adoption in the coming 18-24 months. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a whole have become sensitive to changes in the market and with the news of Facebook lifting the ban on cryptocurrency, some confidence has returned to the market which in-turn has seen price increases within Bitcoin. However, one thing that needs to change is the altcoin market’s dependence on the price of Bitcoin – altcoins suffer/improve based on bitcoin’s price changes and this is one aspect that needs to change for a healthy crypto market.
Many investors look to cryptocurrency to expand and diversify their investment portfolio. The cryptocurrency market is such a young industry and with the correct legislation and regulation, I believe cryptocurrencies will become part of our daily lives. The technology behind cryptocurrencies, blockchain, is being harnessed by numerous sectors and I wouldn’t be surprised if some companies create their own cryptocurrencies for internal use. As the technology improves, there will be more interest in virtual currencies and we will certainly see a wider adoption of these in the future.
Alexey Burdyko, CEO and Founder of Play2Live says:
“Bitcoin is currently going through the bear market and will, as it has done before, come out the other side and whilst it might not hit the heights of late 2017, it will still have considerable value. It’s fair to say 2018 has not been the best for the coin, with more than one hack affecting the price. It is an ugly period for the but we must remember this is a coin that has already bounced back from the decline of just a week ago. What cryptocurrency lacks is trust and without trust you’re always going to be one step behind. With every failed ICO, we see another achieve success but this success is just a lot harder to achieve when there is limited knowledge on the market and limited regulation. Once we begin to see more regulation enter the cryptocurrency market, we will begin to see the a further rise in the market. Investing in cryptocurrency is a speculative investment. The market is unregulated and is incredibly volatile. Anyone considering investing should be prepared to lose vast amounts before they begin to see a profit.”
Founder of Bitcoin.Live, Bob Loukas said:
Is the Bitcoin hype over?
“The Bitcoin hype is definitely not over, with mainstream uses being created every day we are only beginning to see what this phenomenon can do. Whether it’s something as huge as accessing wealth previously unattainable through decentralisation or as simple as new ways of payment, we are not done exploring the possibilities yet. With Bitcoin itself growing in strength as an asset up 150% overall from this time last year, we need to consider not only the infancy of the technology but the constant critique committed developers are undergoing.
“One of the biggest misconception about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is that it is a passing fad or at best a bubble that will eventually pop. The reality still remains that Bitcoin is one of the best performing assets of the decade across the board. Many investors are still pumping money into cryptocurrencies and are getting a great return when doing so carefully and with basic knowledge. A good investor will know that the key to successful investment is to invest for the long term, not the short term and that they shouldn’t panic sell when the price falls.
Evgeny Chereshnev, CEO and founder of Biolink.Tech says
“Cryptocurrency is just a set of numbers, in the same way as money is just a piece of paper until it’s accepted as payment. When these sets of numbers are accepted by someone as payment, it changes everything.
At least 90 percent of all cryptocurrencies that exist right now are doomed to fail, die, or will basically be rejected, because the people who are primarily interested in them are money makers. They’re not businesses, scientists, academics or retailers. In most cases, this is due to the initial supply and demand, and it basically just enables them to make fast money.
It’s not fraud – I would avoid this term, but it’s basically a pyramid scheme in a way, because people invest to drive interest which, in turn, means others invest more money – and that drives the price. Inevitably, the demand plummets because there is no implementation. The price collapses and the cryptocurrency is dead.
Trust in most cryptocurrency is also declining and I’m happy about that, because people need a trustworthy instrument. Only the strongest survive – that’s the law. That being said, I don’t think that hype around Bitcoin is going anywhere because there are a lot of truly interesting scientific applications. Implementations that are being investigated by banks, the medical industry or retail have been analysed as payment tools or smart content platforms have a shot.
In terms of value, it’s price is very dependent on algorithms and how many Bitcoin were issued. Initially, people who were mining Bitcoins were getting 50 Bitcoins each for every block. After a certain period, this basically is halved and the system maintains itself. Satoshi Nakamoto made the architecture in a way that it doesn’t actually matter how many people mine the cryptocurrency, ten people or millions of people, it’s still going to be very hard. So, the more people mine, the harder it is to get paid.
Every now and then reward halves, which drives the prices up. So, from twenty-five Bitcoin per block you get to twenty-five and then go down to twelve and a half, which is the current reward. This started in 2016 and will last until around 2020. Basically, it’s inevitably going to double or triple or even quadruple in the moment of next slash of supply – when by 2020 miners will have 12,5/2 bitcoins as reward, price will boom. Of all the cryptocurrencies, there are three that I consider worthy.
First is Bitcoin, because right now too many resources are invested in it. Then, right now, Ethereum is the biggest platform for smart contracts, and Ripple is something that banks are very interested in.
But, I’m going to warn everybody who wants to play this game with cryptocurrencies. We must not forget about 51 percent attacks. A 51% attack is a great example of this. It is a potential attack on the Bitcoin network that can only be done if one controls 51% of the network. Basically, if several Bitcoin owners who control 51% of it as a group get together and agree to rewrite all of the Bitcoin operations, they will be able to do that. They would have the power to decide which transactions get approved or not, who owns what etc. This is the same principal as a board of directors in an enterprise – when you have the majority vote, you can do whatever you want! Now imagine that you are a well funded hacker team and you somehow managed to hack into several crypto exchange services and get 51% over time. Unlikely? Yes. Impossible? No.
Right now, it’s economically inefficient for any private individual to mine cryptocurrency. So right now, most miners are basically working collectively. They build their own farms, but it’s very expensive to be able to buy this equipment and maintain profitability by paying their huge electricity bills! So basically they unite together; everybody is mining as much as they can and they get paid proportionally according to the processing power they actually provide to the community. Most of those mining right now belongs to approximately five crypto farms, and most of them are in China which, right now, has the resources to pretty much own the blockchain.”
Ross Rustici- Senior Director, Intelligence Services at Cybereason, says:
Is the Bitcoin hype over?
“The Bitcoin euphoria is likely over, but it is likely that the hype will still persist for a while. There are still a lot of people who are bullish on Bitcoin and there will likely continue to be a niche place for the transaction module in legitimate business.”
Was cryptocurrency simply a fad?
“Cryptocurrency is ultimately an experiment that for all intents and purposes failed. It never achieved acceptance as a fiat currency that has intrinsic value on its own and the market place is too unpredictable and prone to disruptions. Over time, these issues could be negated if there is a systematic push to force cryptocurrencies into legitimate securities. I am sceptical that the current players in the market have much of an incentive to take this course though. More likely, the underlying technology, distributed ledgers and smart contracts will survive and find other business applications.”
Is this proof people should’ve been more cautious about investing in cryptocurrencies?
“Before the peak of Bitcoin, the volatility in it and other cryptocurrencies should have urged an immense amount of caution. At best, investing in any cryptocurrency was as good of an investment as betting at a roulette table. There isn’t a single cryptocurrency on the market with any significant market share that has not seen at least an attempt at price manipulation through pump and dump schemes. The last year is akin to any gold rush. Some people got incredibly lucky and made a fortune, most, however, ended up losing their shirt in an attempt at a get rich quick scheme. If you cannot explain the underlying economics or technology that makes an asset fundamentally valuable then it is probably something you should be leery of investing in.”
Mark James, Security Specialist, ESET, says:
Is the Bitcoin hype over?
“I think it’s very difficult to predict the demise of the digital currency, with the huge spikes we have seen over the years and of course the similar drops, it is a very volatile market. Because of the success of bitcoin there will always be an influx of copycat or similar currencies trying to share the success of Bitcoin itself, we may well see a lot of them cease or lay dormant.”
Was cryptocurrency simply a fad? Is this proof people should’ve been more cautious about investing in cryptocurrencies?
“Cryptocurrency has made people a lot of money, and of course with any varying market, there is always a chance to lose money too- but that’s the nature of gambling. The current events will almost certainly weed out the weaker currencies causing concerns for some. If you are going to invest into any digital currency, you need to go into it with the understanding you could lose everything- unlike physical investments you have nothing substantial at the end of it, even if you are successful.”
