In such times, questions like "Does this mean the end?", "Should I sell all and forget about BTC?" appear frequently in the investors' mind.
After the boom in 2017, Bitcoin has entered into the mainstream of the media. Governments and banks, with few exceptions, have started to take position against BTC and cryptocurrencies. In spite of the negative attitudes, the power of the Blockchain technology has been recognized and its implementation has already started (air traffic control, real estate transactions, and more).
Let us consider some facts:
- For the first time, the US Congress dedicated an entire section to cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology in its annual Joint Economic Report, published on March 13th.
- PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel described Bitcoin as “a hedge against the whole world falling apart” in his comments from March 15th.
- International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Christine Lagarde said that crypto markets must be regulated by the same laws that apply to the traditional markets in an IMF blog post published on March 13th.
- Facebook updated its advertising policy announcing in a blog post from January 30th that it prohibits ads that use “misleading or deceptive promotional practices,” which, according to the social media platform, includes ads of cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).
- On March 7th, a report addressed to the Tokyo District Court revealed that a Mt. Gox bankruptcy trustee – Nobuaki Kobayashi – may have contributed to the three month downtrend in the cryptocurrency market. Over the past three months, Nobuaki Kobayashi has sold over $300 mln in Bitcoin on two public exchanges. Kobayashi's sales put so many Bitcoin back into circulation, that the sales contributed to severe drops in the price of Bitcoin. Bitcoin has declined 51.6 % since its December 17th peak of almost $20,000, and it is suspected that Kobayashi has been a significant factor in the decline.
- Google will ban all cryptocurrency-related advertising of all types starting June 2018, according to a recent update to their Financial Services policy.
- Fundstrat's Thomas Lee believes that Bitcoin mining is an unprofitable venture at current prices. A model developed by his data science team has pegged the breakeven price at $8,038.
In our opinion, three major facts are responsible for this downtrend of the Bitcoin price, namely:
- Facebook ban of the cryptocurrency ads,
- putting in circulation of over 300,000 BTC from Mt. Gox, and
- the Google announcement about banning all cryptocurrency ads starting June.
The main reason is the fact that governments and banks have finally understood that Bitcoin and Blockchain technology are the future and it will be more profitable to adopt them, one way or another, than to fight against them. The only problem they have is the decentralized nature of this technology, that makes it impossible to be controlled.
The tendency of centralization in the 21st century is an anachronism in front of world globalization. Thus, the development of decentralized payment solutions is a logical consequence of the general development tendency. This fact, once understood and wisely used by governments and banks, will speed-up the future arrival. Because, it is a fact:
Twitter has not wanted to make a separate opinion and has joined Facebook and Google in banning the cryptocurrency ads.