2018 was difficult, but Bitcoin refuses to die

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Bitcoin will end the year costing a fraction of what it cost a year ago, but many people still rely on its ability to retain value

Those who believe in Bitcoin expected that, by December, all the worst had been left behind. November was catastrophic for the main digital cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. According to Bloomberg, Bitcoin loses 50% of its value during this month. But December brought its own difficulties, and finally, the price fell below $ 4,000 dollars, barely a quarter of what it cost in its boom, in December last year.

Leer en español: El 2018 fue difícil, pero Bitcoin se niega a morir

For Bitcoin, 2018 brought a widespread loss of confidence. The main drivers of this cryptocurrency expected that this year was the one in which Bitcoin opened the way to a real adoption by governments and private companies that would popularize its use.

But that was not the case, a series of concerns regarding the usefulness and security provided by Bitcoin have prevented it from fully integrating IGNORE INTO the financial system and regulating its use in the law.

In addition, according to Forbes, this lack of confidence that is generated in public institutions has come to affect investors as well. It was expected that strong support from financial institutions and private banks would have arrived by this time of the year, but this was not the case. It seems that the insecurity that previously only governments felt now is also felt by the private.

The reality is that Bitcoin is still looking for its place in the world. For many miners and traders who haunt internet cryptocurrency blogs, Bitcoin continues to be a way to get rich quickly.

For governments, it is still a mechanism for money laundering and a fuel for the criminal economy. For Wall Street investors, however, what used to be seen as a new asset class with great investment potential, now increasingly looks like a bubble of the most dangerous.

Also read: Bitcoin: What can you buy with cryptocurrencies?

Bitcoin is not dead

It is not the first time that they accuse Bitcoin of being out; the headlines have announced its death abound around the Internet. In fact, Bitcoin information portal 99bitcoins.com keeps track of the times that the media have declared this cryptocurrency dead, and to date, Bitcoin has been declared dead about 329 times.

This shows that it is not the first time that Bitcoin has to face the skepticism of the financial world; it has been done since its birth in 2009. Although doubts continue and the support of the big institutions of the financial world is scarce, the currency subsists.

Every day there are more than 250,000 transactions according to Blockchain.com, and although the figure does not compare with one or two years ago, it shows that there is still a lot of interest in tracing Bitcoin.

A study by the University of Cambridge entitled Global Cryptomarket Benchmarking Study concluded that Bitcoin is likely to grow back next year. Indicating that while the bubble that erupted this year has been the largest in the history of this asset, the current price and the capitalization of the market that holds is still higher than what it had before. This shows that, although there is widespread uncertainty regarding the price, there is also reliable growth.

This study also revealed that Bitcoin users increased considerably during this year. The number of verified Bitcoin users is now around 35 million, and it has arrived there quickly. During 2017 the number of verified users quadrupled, but during 2018, it doubled again, showing that it still generates interest among new investors.

LatinAmerican Post | Pedro Bernal

Translated from: 'El 2018 fue difícil, pero Bitcoin se niega a morir'