For those of you who don't know, Bitcoin has been one of the biggest financial newsmakers over the last few weeks. After a prolonged rally (at some point, Bitcoin even got more expensive than gold) connected with certain events, the crypto currency unexpectedly dropped only to recover most of the lost ground a few days later.
For many investors out there, the biggest deterrent was a prolonged rally without retracements, which would have to end at some point. In other words, buying an overbought asset wasn’t a good investment idea at best. Eventually, amid the events taking place in the first half of March, not did Bitcoin just drop, it crashed by $250 at a time. However, this was a short-term plunge.
So, what actually happened and why didn’t investors stop seeing Bitcoin as a promising investment? Let’s try to figure this out in this article…
“Explosive” Bitcoin. Is It Good or Bad for Investors?
The price roller-coaster recently shown by Bitcoin was triggered by the Security Exchange Commission’s decision to reject the listing of the world’s first Bitcoin ETF initiated by brothers Cameron and Tyler Winkelvoss, who are private investors and Internet entrepreneurs.
The thing is, the SEC assumes that the Bitcoin market lacks all the necessary regulation and is subject the very high risk of market manipulation by big players. This was actually the reason why the crypto currency crashed by $250 at a time. Later on, the currency regained most of the lost ground and traded just 6,3% below the local high around $1116.
Probably, to some extent, the existing trend has to do with the fact that two more companies are waiting for the SEC to make up their mind regarding the listing of the ETFs offered by them: The New York Stock Exchange (requested by Grayscale Bitcoin Trust for their personal ETF exchange NYSE Arca) and NYSE Arca (requested by SolidX Bitcoin Trust).
We also remind you that before the SEC’s first rejection of the mentioned Bitcoin ETF, the BTC exchange rate used to be growing so fast that it eventually set a new all-time record at $1303. After the roller-coaster, the exchange rate is now somewhere around $1220.
Given the growing interest shown by the reader in crypto currencies, we decided to interview Pavel Krymov, a well-known expert in financial marketing. During the interview, we found out how promising the crypto currency can be for a retail investor and what are its mid-term and long-term prospects.
Bitcoin Has a Lot of Upward Potential, Pavel Krymov Says
When asked about whether investors should buy Bitcoin now, he said that if they want to win big and are willing to risk, then they should. His prediction for early 2018 is at least $2000 per 1BTC.
Some experts say that Bitcoin has been overpriced for years. However, Pavel Krymov assumes that this is not really the case since Bitcoin has a considerable upward potential, which is partially proved by the fact that Bitcoin managed to recover quickly after it crashed not so long ago after the SEC’s decision on Bitcoin ETFs. It took Bitcoin under 48 hours to gain back almost all of the drawdown. All in all, the strong rally we can see over the last few weeks means that there is a lot of people out there seeking to load up on Bitcoins. And chances are that the current Bitcoin rally may well get even more people on board after they learn about Bitcoin.
As for risks for various governments, the decentralized system reduces those risks to the minimum, the expert says. Even if some governments ban Bitcoin, the crypto currency is not going anywhere, it will just go underground. Apparently, any resistance coming from the government may make things more difficult for Bitcoin users but a lack of decent alternatives won’t affect the amount of users seriously anyways. The only big thing that can affect Bitcoin is if China decides to forbid the currency. However, the People’s Bank of China is not going to do this. On the contrary, the Chinese central bank seems to be advocating Bitcoin. Not so long ago, they released the rules and regulations for local Bitcoin exchanges.
Some other national banks had to be honest and announced that they cannot control Bitcoin, since this is a global trend. Banning means pushing it underground, which is why they decided to put up with it and to try adopting it instead by regulating those institutions that exchange Bitcoin for fiat money.
The expert also evaluated the possible reaction of various Forex brokers to the increasing popularity of crypto currencies. He thinks that the savviest brokers will definitely join the Bitcoin market, especially as they have all the required infrastructure to do that. To be more specific, the client will be offered to buy either Bitcoin directly or BTC derivatives. By the way, some of those brokers are already doing so. The next step will be all about creating various BTC-based investment products.
Also the expert assumes that there are several reasons why the crypto currency id destined to go even more popular and conquer the financial online world. First of all, it all about the financial attractiveness of digital currencies. Secondly, it’s all about decentralization and absence of regulation amid tougher rules for transactions using fiat money. And lastly, the block chain technology gives us an opportunity for a much wider use of any crypto currency and make it more efficient relative to fiat money.
