Saturday, March 10, 2018

Needless to say, Bitcoin's 2018 so far can be best described as: tumultuous.  It's been nothing but a rollercoaster ride for the world's leading cryptocurrency, more often with significant setbacks than not.  Its market value may be around $8600 at the time of this writing but can either plummet or soar by the time you're reading this.  Its main traits in recent months are, simply put, unpredictability and unreliability. 

That may very well be the reason why the volume of daily Bitcoin transactions is right now at the LOWEST point during the past two years.  A few days ago, the seven-day average of transactions was below 160,000 which is the least it's been since March 2016.  Blockchain.info data suggests the end outcome for February transactions was between 150 and 155 thousand.  For the sake of comparison, let us remark that there have been nearly 350 thousand transactions per day in December!  Also, the volume of P2P Bitcoin exchanges per week on Localbitcoins nosedived to under 6,000 – the lowest amount since February 2014. 

The last time that the weekly average of transactions was around 160,000, the cryptocurrecy’s value was estimated at $400-$450. 

This furthers the thesis that its future is all but rosy, as it continues to face issues and value fluctuations.  Experts such as Charles Morris, chief investment officer of Newscape Capital Group, claims the transaction volume is a decisive factor in price direction and adds: “We had a hype-cycle and now it’s cooling down.  We just may be entering a bear market.” 

Likewise, Multicoin Capital's Kyle Samani asserts that companies will steer away from using Bitcoin as a means of payment, now that its transaction volume is reduced: “Merchants, payment processors and online gambling are moving off of Bitcoin,” he says. 

What is the road ahead for Bitcoin?  Is there a way back to glory and, more importantly, will people regain their trust in it?  Have your say in the comments below…