2018 will mark the 10 th anniversary of Satoshi Nakamoto’s
original white paper on crypto currency trading. 2017 had
been a big year for bitcoin and as 2018 kicks in, there are talks
of Ripple, Ethereum and other crypto currency soaring in
prices.
U.S Securities and National Exchange (SEC) in the past several
months has been increasingly vocal about the risks related with
cryptocurrencies, also suspending trading in some companies
due to concerns about their claim regarding their token-related
announcements. The prices of Bitcoin have soared and is trading
at around $16200 at the start of the year, which is 18% below its
all time high of $19800. Action by regulators like SEC would
halt those gains. Bitcoin fell more than $2000 in September
when China started to crack down on digital currencies. Even
though these regulations will halt the surge in prices of digital
currencies, but it is expected that these regulations would do
more good than harm in the future of digital currencies making
it more acceptable and reliable.
Chief Executive officer of a crypto trading investment firm
BlackTower Capital has predicted that bitcoin will trade at both
$4000 and at $30000 at some point in 2018. There will be more
forks on Bitcoin than 2017 which will have a short term tail
wind on the prices of bitcoin and a long term head wind for
bitcoin.
2017 also saw the loss of hegemony for Bitcoin as other
cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Ripple, Torn and Stellar have
surged into the ranks of largest cryptocurrencies based on
market capitalization. However, the performance of these ‘alt
coins’ will also benefit Bitcoin as for new investors, Bitcoin
remains the true asset for access into the crypto market space.
Bitcoin’s well established digital network will outplay the new
‘alt coins’ better payment functions or other functions.
Institutional investor base is also very keen on exploring and
learning new things about the crypto world. With the number of
institutional level products related to bitcoin increasing we
would see more investors being introduced to the crypto space
The CME, Cboe bitcoin futures that was launched in December
are also planning their own derivative products. With the
regulated futures markets going live in 2017, the stage is set for
ETFs (exchange-traded fund, is a marketable security that
tracks an index, a commodity, bonds, or a basket of
assets like an index fund) to gain approval in 2018.
With all the new proceedings in the crypto coins space, it sure
seems like a wild and volatile ride ahead.