More Crypto Users in 2018 Despite a Bearish Market?

There are those people like Mike Novogratz who remains adamant that Bitcoin can recover soon. However, generally, there is a sense of panic and distress in today’s crypto market. Compared to last year’s excitement as Bitcoin was able to hit near $20K in mid-December, Bitcoin is still struggling to even maintain $3,500. Today, Bitcoin was able to generate some moderate gains and had its intraday high of $3,534.

A few months back, Bitcoin was surprisingly stable at $6,200 to $6,500. Some experts even saw this as a sign of maturity within the crypto niche. But after the Bitcoin Cash hard fork, Bitcoin slipped below $6,000 before it reached below $3,500. It was an accumulation of uncertainties in the niche that contributed to the drop in recent weeks.

For instance, you have the US Securities and Exchange Commission targeting ICOs and even celebrities who endorsed these tokens that are considered unregistered securities by the agency. However, it turns out that there is a growing number of crypto enthusiasts. According to a study by Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, the number of verified users of crypto has doubled in the first three quarters of 2018. The users jumped from 18 million to 35 million.

A Comeback Waiting to Happen?

Now, is this a comeback waiting to happen for cryptos? The figures could be an indicator that there could potentially be another bull run. This study is something that could give the entire crypto market hope. This is crucial considering that there are those experts that called the crypto market a bubble. Nouriel Roubini, who is the economist who successfully predicted the 2008 crisis calls Bitcoin and the crypto market a bubble.

According to the study, many of those users are long-term investors. It mentioned that “Confronting with popular narratives, survey data indicates that the majority of users—both established as new entrants—are individuals and not business clients”. it added that “individuals can be hobbyists, retail investors, consumers, or users seeking a better investment or payment alternative”.

And when it comes to the number of users, it mentioned that “Growth rates were at their highest in 2017, and the number of new users as well as ID-verified users continued to rapidly grow in 2018 as well”.

$100 Than $100K?

If you are going to ask former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist and current Harvard University professor Kenneth Rogoff, he believes that Bitcoin is “more likely to be $100 than $100,000”. He also added that Bitcoin has limited use mainly because of its volatility. He even thinks that even Bitcoin mining isn’t something that is helping Bitcoin since it is “vastly less efficient” than systems that rely on “a trusted central authority like a central bank”.

However, he dismissed that Bitcoin is worth zero. He thinks that “regulators are gradually waking up to the fact that they cannot countenance large expensive-to-trace transaction technologies that facilitate tax evasion and criminal activity”.

Do you believe that Bitcoin is still coming back and it is just another massive correction? Or do you think that Bitcoin can still go down further and even see a bottom even below $3K?