Hello, dear friends!
2018 is over and now we can make a little retrospective article about main evenеs of ’18 in crypto world. The past year was a real test of the cryptocurrency market for the ability to withstand new strikes on the course.
In 2018, the value of assets fell by an average of 80%. Why does it happen? The first reason is the tightening of legislation in the largest countries. The second is the loss of trust both between the participants of the cryptocurrency community and the tokens.
The important events of 2018 were:
- Licensing for the Swiss Crypto Fund AG;
- Launch of the Fidelity Digital Asset platform;
- Formation in a number of countries of legislation regulating cryptocurrency;
- Cryptocurrency boycott by large Internet corporations — prohibition of cryptocurrency advertising, blocking of profile accounts in social networks, etc.
The market has left only those businesses and individuals who accurately represent their goals and know what they are doing in the world of blockchain technologies. Experts say that cryptocurrency market is in the process of purification and in 2019 it will be released on active development, shaking off the accumulated ballast.
The end of 2018 demonstrates that inefficiency in this kind of business is punishable. For effective work in the field of mining is extremely important the cost of electricity. In addition, every day it is necessary to fix the inked currency, transfer it to the stock exchange on time, transfer to USDT, choose pools correctly, look at which algorithm is better to mine, according to which principle — PPS or PPLNS — only a combination of all these factors and correctly completed work can leave mining profitable.
Bitcoin
2017 was a breakthrough year for Bitcoin (Bitcoin): on December 17, the first cryptocurrency set an absolute record, exceeding $ 20,000. In 2018, Bitcoin is less solemn: cryptocurrency cannot reach the level above $ 4900. November was the worst month for Bitcoin in the last seven years: for 30 days the cryptocurrency fell by more than 37% — the result was worse in August 2011, when during the month Bitcoin fell by 40%. Many experts were confident that by the end of the year Bitcoin would grow to the minimum mark of $ 9000, but this did not happen.
If Bitcoin cannot rise in price by the end of the year, then another event will take place in January that could spur the growth of the first cryptocurrency: the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) plans to launch the Bakkt crypto platform. Bitcoin futures contracts with physical supply should be its product. The launch of the platform focused on large investors was planned for December 12, then the deadlines were shifted to January 24, now the date is January 30. The question remains open.
The market also expected Bitcoin ETFs to appear. Alas, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed the decision on applications from VanEck, ITS and SolidX over and over again. The final verdict must come before February 27, 2019. In the summer, the SEC rejected nine applications for Bitcoin-ETF right away; even earlier, the Commission refused to open Bitcoin-ETF several times to the Winklevoss brothers. Every time when it became known about the refusal or the transfer of the SEC decision, the crypt market dropped.
Altcoins
If hard fork of the first cryptocurrency became one of the main events of 2017 when Bitcoin Cash appeared, this year Bitcoin Cash was already divided — and this fork was one of the reasons for the collapse of the cryptographic market in November. Stablecoins became the stars of the market this year. The number of stable cryptocurrencies grew by leaps and bounds: Stasis, LBXPeg, Candy, Paxos Standard, Gemini Dollar, USD Coin, CarbonUSD, nUSD, Stronghold USD, etc.
ICO
The market of primary placements of coins also survived a difficult year. As with Bitcoin, November was the worst month for ICO. For a month, startups managed to collect only 65 million dollars. On average for the year, this figure was 1.2 billion dollars. According to analysts, the decline in the industry is due to tight control by financial regulators.
So, in the United States have closed many ICO-projects. American regulators say that a huge number of cases against ICO-startups should be a signal for investors: there are more and more projects, many of them are aimed at stealing depositors’ money, so you need to be very careful about investing. Experts suggest that in the future, ICO will no longer attract the attention of investors, and their place will be occupied by regulated platforms of tokenized securities (STO).
Cryptoregulation
Approaches of different countries to regulate the cryptocurrency market vary widely: from a complete ICO ban in China, the imposition of severe restrictions on crypto-bourse in South Korea, the adoption of a tough position on service tokens by the American Securities Commission (SEC) to new laws in Gibraltar, Malta, Estonia, Liechtenstein.
Countries that have expressed a positive attitude towards cryptocurrency operations and tokens allocations and adopting special laws gathered large investments — and others were quick to follow their example (remember Gibraltar — the law on licensing the decentralized registry entered into force in January of this year, recently adopted rules for crypto funds, ICO clarification is awaited. Three new laws of Malta have recently begun to operate, and there are no real examples of their application (as well as the promised blockchain authority), but they have already applied for obtaining licenses (for example, Bittrex and India’s largest crypto-exchange service).