A quick glance at bitcoin charts reveals that the cryptocurrency has been on a steady decline for the past few months, following its continuous tumble last year. Can bitcoin ever recover or will it continue to lose value?
Some industry experts say that bitcoin might lose further ground in terms of dollar value, as the speculative positions are being trimmed. After all, the inherent value of bitcoin probably doesn’t lie in its price as a speculative investment but rather in its practical applications in various fields.
Bitcoin Downtrend
Bitcoin startups have still been popping up left and right these days, but their focus is now on creating means to garner mainstream acceptance for the cryptocurrency rather than bitcoin mining operations. After all, there are fewer bitcoins to be mined and the cost associated with mining these units far outweigh the profits.
Apart from that, the crackdown of authorities on criminal usage of bitcoin has weighed on the cryptocurrency’s value, as this led to caution among startups and individuals. Governments are looking closer into the developments in the industry and are taking steps to ensure that these are used for legitimate reasons only. Hacking attacks demanding bitcoin as ransom have continued to put a negative light on the digital currency’s usage as well.
With that, some have surmised that the value of bitcoin lies in the underlying blockchain technology, which has been tapped for various applications such as the creation of a land registry in Honduras or for securing digital files.
In terms of dollar value, bitcoin could continue to tread carefully around its current levels, possibly finding resistance at the $250 mark. Of course this could hinge mostly on industry developments, as speculative positioning could increase again now that bitcoin-related ETFs and CFDs are being welcomed on major exchanges.
