Cryptocurrency investors can take a cautious sigh of relief after the crypto market valuation gained nearly $33 billion dollars in just three days, with Bitcoin rising 18% against the US dollar and topping $4,000. According to cryptocurrency trader and economist Alex Krüger, the run-up is a brief respite from the plunging price of Bitcoin and not the beginning of a new bull run – yet.
In a series of tweets, Krüger maps out why he believes the bounce is not what it appears to be.
“Crypto simply stopped falling. Nothing else has changed. No reason to expect a rabid bull run yet. May easily print new lows in the following weeks. A wide range is IMO the most likely scenario to ensue. Nothing to FOMO into.”
He expects a wide range from $5,500 – $2,500, and continued volatility in the coming weeks.
“Crypto bullish talk is increasing. Some are deriding bears looking for lower prices. Most of these bulls lost a fortune, are deeply underwater, and are actually best ignored. Crypto simply stopped falling. Nothing else has changed. No reason to expect a rabid bull run yet. May easily print new lows in the following weeks. A wide range is IMO the most likely scenario to ensue. Nothing to FOMO into.”
Cameron Chell, chairman of ICOx Innovations, adds that the bull run speculation has finally died down and has given way to a more dedicated focus on real-world applications.
Chell says,
“The crypto speculation bubble that popped in 2018 was a blessing in disguise. It caused the craze to fade into the background, which will pave the way for real-world blockchain applications to come to the fore in 2019. Next year, blockchain technology will be leveraged to tackle some of the biggest pain points across industries. I predict a lot of movement in IP rights, corporate currencies, land titles, and virtual reality registration and economies.”
Just prior to the recent BTC bounce, analysts and global market strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou from JPMorgan Chase issued a note to clients on December 14 suggesting their take on institutional enthusiasm for Bitcoin investment. As reported by Bloomberg, the analysts write, “Participation by financial institutions in bitcoin trading appears to be fading. Key flow metrics [in futures markets and in average volumes] have downshifted dramatically.”
With more muted expectations around Bitcoin’s price action, insiders believe that developers will drive the tech forward, instead of speculators.
Says Josh Fraser, co-founder of Origin Protocol,
“In 2019, we will start to see real results from the serious building that got started in 2018. You will see the term ‘the decentralized web’ or ‘Web3’ much more as projects innovate off-chain, while still preserving decentralization.
Developers will also start to focus heavily on user experience, as opposed to just launching – 2018 saw the release of many DApps, but low user numbers. We expect to see a renewed focus on adoption in 2019.”
Tamir Koch, president of eMusic, says,
“Despite the market downturn, 2018 was the year where mainstream adoption of crypto began to gain steam. I believe 2019 will be a major step forward, with a huge player coming out and embracing crypto, such as a payment company accepting crypto, pushing adoption by the public into the mainstream.”
That prediction gained more steam today with ongoing reports about Facebook and a new crypto product that appears to be in the works.
Meanwhile, Jake Yocom-Piatt, co-founder of Decred, says 2018 served to filter out the pretenders in the crypto world.
“In 2018, we saw the ICO model die, Ethereum flame out, DApps and tokens go to zero, and ERC20 projects generate insanely creative business models just to avoid regulation in a brazen grab for cash. Observing these failures reinforced our belief that the blockchain-driven future isn’t a quick fix. It will take decades, patience, and longevity to build and gain mass adoption.”
