Since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin has been on a rollercoaster ride of UPS and downs, highs and lows. But what goes up must come down, right? So, will Bitcoin rise again?
Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, without a central bank or single administrator, that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries. Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain.
Bitcoin is unique in that there are a finite number of them: 21 million.
Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services.
As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment.
The price of Bitcoin has been notoriously volatile. In 2013, the price of one Bitcoin soared from $13 to over $1,000 in just a few months, before crashing back down to around $300.
In 2017, the price rose again to over $5,000 before crashing back down to around $3,000. And as of June 2019, the price is hovering around $10,000. So what’s causing all this volatility?.
There are a number of factors that can affect the price of Bitcoin:
Supply and demand: The more people want to buy Bitcoin (demand), the higher the price will go up. The fewer people want to buy Bitcoin (lower demand), the lower the price will go down.
This is basic economics 101.
News: Both good and bad news can affect the price of Bitcoin. If there’s positive news about Bitcoin (e.g. more businesses are beginning to accept it), then demand will increase and prices will go up.
If there’s negative news about Bitcoin (e.g. China cracking down on cryptocurrency exchanges), then demand will decrease and prices will go down.
Investors and speculators: When investors or speculators feel that the price of Bitcoin is going to go up in the future, they’ll buy more Bitcoins now in order to make profits later when they sell them at a higher price. This can cause prices to increase even further! Or if they think the price is going to go down in the future, they’ll sell their Bitcoins now before prices drop any further.
This can cause prices to decrease even further! So investors and speculators can really influence the short-term direction of Bitcoin’s price movements.
So what does the future hold for Bitcoin? Will its price continue to rise or fall? Unfortunately, no one knows for sure – it’s impossible to predict future prices with 100% accuracy. However, if we look at past trends and current conditions, it seems likely that demand for Bitcoin will continue to increase in the future which could lead to even higher prices!.