Commodity Blog

Bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency on Wednesday, October 31, 2018 marks 10 years since its pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto submitted “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” back in 2008 to a cryptographic mailing list, sparking one of the biggest flurries of technological innovation in a decade.

Bitcoin 10-Year Anniversary: History and Charts

It has been ten years today since the first proposal for issuing a new currency, a virtual currency that is radically different from the well-known fiat currency that circulates in the market. Ten years since the concept of buying and selling the electronic currency which later got to be known as “cryptocurrency”. Ten years of controversy between rejections and approvals among consumers and investors in the market.

Promises and warnings, hopes and fears, conferences and summits, success and failure, profits and losses, and other common details in the way of the “electronic cash”, like they are on the way of any consumer product. Where is Bitcoin today? And where is it headed tomorrow? For those who have not been following Bitcoin closely, below is a rundown of the story of the asset thus far.

Satoshi Nakamoto and Bitcoin

According to Wikipedia, the name of Satoshi Nakamoto was given to the unknown person or group of people who developed the digital currency, Bitcoin, authorizing its whitepaper, and deploying its original reference implementation. Nakamoto was or were active in developing Bitcoin up until December 2010.

Nakamoto presented the whitepaper for Bitcoin in 2018, in parallel with the worldwide financial crisis back in the time, where the internet currency was said to have been considered as part of the solution for the crisis.

Few people initially knew what Bitcoin is or what it could become. The first transactions were made between proponents to test out the cryptocurrency, which was not widely available. Back then, there were no crypto exchanges and it did not have a quote price either.

Subsequently, Bitcoin Markets became the first Bitcoin exchange in March 2010. At the time, it was possible to purchase the virtual coin through websites that gave free bitcoins to spread the word, as these were mostly worthless.

Currently, there are over 2,000 crypto assets in circulation, which despite a months-long bear market, the entire industry is still worth over $200 billion. At press time, one bitcoin is worth around $6,300. That is a steep 70% decline from its all-time high of near $20,000 in December 2017.  The drop in price is due to a more intense global regulatory scrutiny, as well as the increase of cryptocurrency crime including hack attacks.

So far, the currency has been used as a means of investment, and within times, more and more institutional investors got open to experience the adventure and join the bandwagon, with few businesses accepting payment in Bitcoin.

Increasing Adoption For Bitcoin

Back in 2015 and 2016, notable venture capital firms started betting on the cryptocurrency ecosystem. At the time Coinbase generated about $75 million in what was then known as the “largest-ever VC round” for a cryptocurrency-related company.

Less than a year after the collapse of Mt Gox, a UK-based exchange, Bitstamp announced it was taking its trading platform offline while investigations were ongoing for a security breach that saw hackers stole 19,000 bitcoins from its wallets. Bitstamp was later acquired by a European investment company.

Meanwhile, in 2016, a gaming platform, Steam started accepting Bitcoin payments via Bitpay. In that same year, the number of Bitcoin ATMs globally increased to over 700. In addition, an increasing number of merchants that have surpassed 100,000 started accepting cryptocurrencies.

It is also worthy of note, that the popular crypto exchange, Bitfinex, was hacked in 2016 and120,000 bitcoins, around $72 million at the time were stolen. The aftermath is still felt today, as crypto critics claim Tether’s USDT stablecoin is not backed by any US dollar and was used to help Bitfinex recover from the hack attack.

2017’s Bitcoin Price Rally

The price of Bitcoin exploded in 2017 as interest in digital currencies increased. BTC started the year at about $1,000 after slowly climbing due to its adoption and the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) boom in 2016.

Remarkably, Bitcoin price spiked to a high of over $20,000 by the end of 2017 as investors started pouring money in over the fear of missing out (FOMO).  As the price rallied, more mainstream financial companies started turning their attention to the digital asset. Leading exchange operators, both CME Group and CBOE launched Bitcoin futures in December.

Interest Over the Last 10 Years

–          First notable amount of search volume started in 2011

–          A new significant increase in December 2013

–          It was known only in very narrow circles of IT and cryptography professionals

–          Bitcoin became mainstream in May 2017

However, by the end of the year, the price started declining as analysts were warning about a speculative bubble.

Price Crashes to the Earth in 2018

Bitcoin and other virtual currencies plummeted in 2018 as traders and investors began to realize that the 2017 price rally was mostly driven by hopes of short-term gains rather than any fundamentals.

Interest Over the Last 5 Years

–          Peak was reached in December 2017

–          Massive 80% drop at the beginning of March from the peak levels in December

Bitcoin price crashed to the earth during the first three months of the year after China’s communist government cracked down on cryptocurrencies and banned ICOs from the country, thus, forcing crypto exchanges to abandon it.

The price has now been stuck in a range around the $6,300 mark for the past two months. This has coincided with a period of the unusually low volatility of the cryptocurrency. Despite the market’s downturn, there have been quite a few developments during the past few months.

Yes, Bitcoin is 10 years old today. Despite the fact that the number 1 digital currency is yet mature, BTC still promises of new horizons to open in the world of finance and trading tomorrow.

BTCUSD Technical Forecast: Bearish Trend Continues

The BTCUSD pair was in a bearish trend on Tuesday. So far, there has been no significant price movement in the past 24 hours. Bitcoin price dropped to the $6,300 price level and started fluctuations above that zone. The indicators are currently pointing in the same direction for the price.

Firstly, from the price action, the BTC price is below Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs) and the coin’s price is ranging for another downward slide. Secondly, the Stochastic indicator has been in the oversold territory since yesterday. The stochastic is below 20 which shows that the downward momentum is strong.

Hence, Bitcoin price is likely to drop and test the $6,200 price level which is in the lower price range. If the bearish pressure continues at the $6,200 price level, the BTCUSD pair will find support at the $6,000 price level.

Moreover, Bitcoin remains bearish on the short-term trend. The flagship cryptocurrency is ranging and likely to see another price breakout. The price is currently below the 12-day EMA and 26-day EMA which shows that the price is in the bearish trend zone. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) period 14 is level 26 and it indicates that the market is oversold, thus suggesting that the bulls will take control of the market.

If you have any questions and comments on Bitcoin today, use the form below to reply.