Is this the end of cryptocurrencies?
The price of the most popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum or Litecoin plummets with speed, but this may be because they have found a place in the market
On December 17, 2017, according to the well-known CoinMarketCap website, the Bitcoin cryptocurrency reached a historical price of more than $ 19,000 due to an explosion in its price. From approximately the month of October of that same year, Bitcoin had seen how its value in the market increased in an accelerated way, until reaching a ceiling in December.
After that peak, and throughout 2018, Bitcoin has suffered an incredible fall that has put its investors on alert and has put on the table an important question: is this the end of cryptocurrencies or are they simply adjusting their true value in the market?
The fall in the price of Bitcoin throughout 2018 has been close to 70%, if you take the peak of December last year and compare with its current price, which is below $ 5,000, a figure that the experts see as alarming. Similarly, coins like Ethereum have gone from over 1,200 dollars at the beginning of 2018 to just over 100 dollars, and Litecoin from a little over 350 dollars at the end of 2017 to just over 30 dollars. The fall of cryptocurrencies is undeniable and investors do not know what to do.
"The biggest scam of all"
Nouriel Roubini, an economist and professor at the University of New York, is recognized within the framework of cryptocurrencies for being one of his most staunch detractors, coming to express that this new virtual currency is the biggest scam of all.
In his Twitter account, the professor expressed his joy at the collapse of the prices of cryptocurrencies, as he said that it is the definitive fracture of the economic bubble that had been created around this concept, which is not useful in any way. To these controversial statements, Roubini denounced something that is now seen more clearly: the environmental damage that cryptocurrencies entail and how mining is no longer profitable.
Also read: Bitcoin: What can you buy with cryptocurrencies?
To obtain a blockchain chain it is necessary to "mine", carry out complex mathematical and computational processes that require large amounts of energy. Of course, this has meant that all cryptocurrencies have a limited number of units and that their value in the market grows as demand increases. But, with the collapse of the price, the miners who were still active, especially in China, now reject the idea of continuing to do so, as reported by various specialized media in the cryptocurrency market.
Focus on the usefulness of Bitcoin, not its price
Against this background, other defenders of the possibilities of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology emerge, such as Dr. Saifedean Ammous, who has predicted in his book ¨The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking¨, that Bitcoin will be located in the future in the same position as the gold standard, that is, establishing a support for the entire economic system.
It is clear that cryptocurrencies are still a very complex alternative to understand for a world that is still torn between adopting all the possibilities of virtual development or clinging to the models that have served it for centuries.
For investors and amateurs of cryptocurrencies, its fall in the market is a major setback, especially for those seeking to make a simple capital through its acquisition. However, the economic alternatives offered by cryptocurrencies are so large that it is perhaps necessary to focus on the value of the Bitcoin concept and not on what it currently costs in the market.
LatinAmerican Post | Jorge Ovalle
Translated from ¨¿Será éste el fin de la criptomoneda? ¨
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