2017 showcased a good amount of optimism on the part of the crypto market. In fact, it has been evidenced by the rapid growth of the crypto market until it reached its peak in January. However, just a few days ago, things weren’t exactly looking good for the crypto market. Though Bitcoin has remained somewhat stable at $6,400, you have the entire crypto market losing 80% of its all-time high. Ethereum even lost 45% in the last 30 days.
2018 marked regulatory changes for the industry. And because of this, the crypto market has encountered a bearish market since then. In fact, Bitcoin, which was able to reach near $20K limit in mid-December has experienced 68% decline in matter of nine months.
If you are going to ask Mike Novogratz, who is the founder of Galaxy Digital, he thinks that things are about to change. On Wednesday, the market cap for the crypto market has reached $186 billion, which is the lowest for this year. Though Bitcoin has somewhat maintained stability, you have altcoins that have plummeted in value.
He cited the data from Galaxy Digital’s crypto price index. According to Novogratz, he said that the market had “retouched the highs of late last year and the point of acceleration that led to the massive rally/bubble”. He also added that “markets like to retrace the breakout”.
Has The Market Bottomed?
There are already a number of crypto experts who already thought that the crypto market had already bottomed. Cryptocurrency hedge fund Pantera Capital in April mentioned that this was the case. On the other hand, Barry Silbert who is the founder of Digital Currency Group thought in July that the crypto market has bottomed out.
Is Novogratz correct this time around? In July, Novogratz made a bold prediction saying that the crypto market cap would reach $800 billion in just 12 months. He believes that the regulated custodians will store cryptocurrencies for institutional investors.
Still Bullish for the Coming Months?
For the chief commercial officer of BitPay, Sonny Singh, he believes that it is possible for Bitcoin to rebound in 2019. However, things aren’t looking bright for the other altcoins. He thinks that most altcoins are “never coming back”.
He said that “Atlcoins will never come back, I believe, in the same way, a bitcoin will come back. You know, Fidelity, BlackRock, they’re not launching altcoin products. They’re going to launch bitcoin products. So bitcoin will rebound next year”. He also added that as for the initial coin offerings, it is also expected that ICOs are “in a lot of trouble”.
He makes a point. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has considered Bitcoin and Ethereum as commodities. However, the agency still left other altcoins in a limbo. Ripple is even facing multiple lawsuits regarding the possibility that it is a security.
Also, there are a number of Bitcoin ETF applications. It has been highly anticipated by the market thinking that this could signal the beginning of big players entering the picture. It is expected for the agency to make a decision this month regarding VanEck and Solid X’s Bitcoin ETF application. Will this help improve the current market cap of the crypto market?
