- Bitcoin has had to push past several criticisms to reach its current level.
- Despite the hurdles, the asset has grown in relevance over the years.
- Bitcoin is trading at $38,700 as pundits remain positive for explosive growth in the future.
With a current price of over $30,000, Bitcoin is seen as the foremost digital asset by market valuation. The tale of this revolutionary product of blockchain technology has not been smooth sailing all the way.
A Rocky Start
Satoshi Nakamoto created history after mining the first Bitcoin block in 2009 and sowed the seeds that would change the financial industry. To Nakamoto, he was merely creating a system that would remove the influence of central authorities and intermediaries to create a decentralized method of facilitating transactions.
At the time, the asset had little value with the direction of the cryptocurrency decided in online forums by a small circle of users. The narrative up to 2011 was that it was largely a fringe asset, without any real utility. 2012 saw the asset gain strides with some merchants, but at the time, it was perceived as something indulged in by nerds.
Fast forward to 2013, and the perception of the asset got intertwined with criminal activity. The rise of the Silk Road saw the asset being adopted by users of the dark web marketplace for the facilitation of criminal activity. During the FBI crackdown on the site, over 70,000 BTC were confiscated by law enforcement agents. The asset also suffered from the infamous Mt Gox hack which sent BTC prices in freefall after losing 850,000 BTC.
In 2014, Bitcoin began to be associated with libertarianism, an ideology that champions individual freedoms as opposed to government interventions. And 3 years later, in 2017, Bitcoin increased by 20 times its value at year’s end. Surging to $20,000 from $1,100 at the start of the year in January.
Two years down the line, the narrative was that the asset was only used by a small percentage of individuals and still wore the tag of a fringe asset. 2020 led to the asset class gaining more recognition from institutional investors and likely set it up for a breakthrough year in 2021. Just Like Balboa, despite many heavy-hitting rounds, Bitcoin was still standing.
The Bright Future For BTC
In 2021, Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market, in general, got significant attention and adoption. Fears of inflation prompted many institutional investors to turn to Bitcoin, rather than gold, as an inflationary hedge.
El Salvador, under the leadership of a pro-Bitcoin president, adopted the asset as a legal tender, becoming the first country to do so despite concerns from bodies like the IMF. In the same year, the asset hit a new all-time high of almost $69,000 in early November of about $69,000. 2021 was not all rosy for the asset, however, as China intensified its efforts to enforce its Bitcoin ban, stressing its environmental impacts.
Presently, the asset is suffering from a 3-month long correction that has seen it lose over 30% of its value, trading at about $38,700 at the time of writing. Regulatory concerns are a major theme in several countries, while many institutions including Goldman Sachs, Guggenheim, Pantera, and Bloomberg Intelligence maintain their bullish price calls, expecting it to push past $100,000 in the near future.
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