October has been an interesting month for Bitcoin, with growth of about 40% so far, breaking a market cap of over $101,881,681,652.
But if you are looking at Bitcoin long-term, this is more than just numbers now. Yes, Bitcoin did experience some explosive growth this month (and has been this entire year), but we shouldn’t let that distract us from some of the main components that will fuel Bitcoin’s growth in the long-term.
- Not only did the price break $6,000 per Bitcoin for the first time ever, we started to see Bitcoin’s market cap rate surpass that of big banks such as Goldman Sachs ($93 billion) and Morgan Stanley ($89 billion). While comparing the market capitalization of a cryptocurrency with that of publicly traded companies doesn’t make much financial sense, it’s entertaining to watch financial institutions stress out about Bitcoin.
For example, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon can’t stop talking about Bitcoin and venting his frustration with the topic by calling Bitcoin a “fraud” and threatening to fire any employee trading it for the simple reason of “being stupid”.
We also saw Goldman Sachs state that Bitcoin is not the “new gold” in terms of currency, calling it volatile and the methods of storage vulnerable. Goldman Sachs also stated that precious metals like gold are still the best way to store value-long term. While this may be historically accurate, the world hasn’t seen anything like Bitcoin before. Understanding Bitcoin’s growth a matter of equipping yourself with the perspective and ideology that Bitcoin (or if/when whatever cryptocurrency evolves to take its place) can play a substantial long-term role in how society views money.
Traditional financial institutions such as investment banks are at an interesting point. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ripple are inherent threats to the very foundation that these multi-hundred-billion dollar companies operate on, and they can’t be defeated because of their decentralized nature. Additionally, many of the same banks that are threatened are also investors looking to reap the rewards of Bitcoin’s explosive growth, and also are incubating similar blockchain concepts to not get left in the dust.
- People are starting to look at Bitcoin as an oasis of solidity in an otherwise tumultuous alt-coin market.
In September, we saw an unprecedented crackdown on ICOs and alt-coins by government entities. China and South Korea outright banned the sales of ICOs, and the United States warned investors to be skeptical. While there are hundreds (soon to be thousands) of dubious ICOs, this crackdown did have effects on how investors view legitimate alt-coins. For this reason, many investors flocked to Bitcoin and were able to enjoy some solid growth in October.
So, that brings up the question of whether Bitcoin will be a source of stability in the future. Although the price has gone up a lot this month, that doesn’t make it any less volatile.
- Bitcoin still has a long way to go. One of the key pieces of news in October that influenced the writing of this piece was the prediction that Bitcoin will hit $27,000 in four months by an avid cryptocurrency investor and enthusiast called Trace Mayer. While Twitter is filled with all kinds of Bitcoin hooplah, Mayer’s prediction was based on a simple 200 day moving average. This 200 day moving average would put Bitcoin well over $27,000.
Four months is close enough in the future to anticipate, so I’m really interested to see where BTC ends up between then and now. The counter-argument against this would be that Bitcoin may just be experience a state of exponential growth and will cool off, but that’s what people have been saying for years.
It’s also important to note that Bitcoin’s main competitors for value storage and a medium of exchange are the US Dollar and gold. Bitcoin was able to earn a market capitalization of over $100 billion in just a few short years, but this hardly holds a candle to its competitors. The US Dollar money supply circles around $12,500 billion. All the gold that has ever been mined is worth around $8,000 billion.
This means that Bitcoin, this innovative new technology with exponential growth is only around 1% of its two main competitors. This leaves Bitcoin a long way to grow, and I personally don’t think it’s going to slow down anytime soon.
Final Thoughts
By all means, this isn’t a conclusive argument for where Bitcoin’s price will end up. These are just a few points I want to bring up regardless of whatever you choose to do with your money.
There are a handful good of arguments on both sides of the Bitcoin growth discussion, but it all comes down to how well you can either respond to short-term events, or how cemented you are in your long-term beliefs.
Personally, I don’t recommend day-trading or trying to “game” exchanges for the simple fact that losing money sucks, and this is an easy way to lose money.
However, what I can advocate is the thorough research of the fundamental factors influencing the growth of particular cryptocurrencies and how the world responds to it. For example, in October we saw investment banks start commenting more about Bitcoin (which at the very least hints at more media coverage), how many users decided to stick with Bitcoin instead of liquidating for fiat during rough alt-coin times, and some explosive growth that backs up the lofty price goal assumptions by crypto enthusiasts.
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