Though the beginning of 2018 saw a skyrocketing trend in bitcoin prices, it looks like this trend just got jinxed as the bitcoin prices have fallen by two-thirds over the past couple of months. The big question for investors here is whether the bitcoin bubble has burst, or will the future of bitcoin witness it getting back on its feet with time?
Initially, bitcoins shot to popularity due to some notable advantages such as ease in the transaction and the lack of a central governing body for bitcoin transactions. However, the increasing costs of bitcoin transactions and the lack of its widespread acceptance as a mode of the transaction are making the future of bitcoin look uncertain. However, this does not mean that the bitcoins are all set for doom. To understand the roadmap for the future of bitcoin and the likely changes in its price in the years to come, it is important to consider some real-world events such as regulatory status and technical advancements. Here are some of the key factors that could affect the price of bitcoins.
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Future of Bitcoin: An Overview
Regulatory Restrictions
Cryptocurrencies in the form of bitcoins have been operational for almost a decade now. However, the regulation in this sector is still in its early days. It is commonly believed that if governments start to regulate cryptocurrencies, its price will be negatively affected. However, Japan seems to have a different story to tell. By completely regulating bitcoin in 2017, Japan became the first nation in the world to regulate bitcoin in the same way as its financial services industry. Since then, Japan now has the highest trading volume in the world for Bitcoin. There are over 200,000 stores that accept bitcoin in Japan and people use it every day in the real-world setting. This is a positive sign for the future of bitcoin and more countries are expected to follow suit in the future.
Technological Advancements
In terms of reputation, market capitalization, and real-world usage, bitcoin is known to be one of the top cryptocurrencies. However, in reality, the performance levels of bitcoin transactions are known to be poor. Wonder why? Firstly, it takes about ten minutes to confirm a transaction on the Bitcoin network. Secondly, the fees charged for bitcoin transactions are much higher than they used to be; in fact, they now cost dollars rather than cents. Finally, the level of scalability could turn out to be a major issue for the future of bitcoin. It can only confirm seven transactions per second. For instance, other cryptocurrencies such as NEO and Ripple can confirm thousands of transactions per second. This means, if bitcoins have to come to power as a global payment system, it must improve technically.
Adoption and Real-World Usage
Not just in Japan, there are several stores in nations such as the USA and the UK that accept bitcoins as a mode of payment, but the number of such stores is comparatively much lower. The future of bitcoin will shine brightly when more companies and retail outlets or even online retailers start accepting it as an actual currency. If the real-world usage of bitcoin increases, it will undoubtedly skyrocket its value in the market.
Competition
Did you know that there are currently over 1500 cryptocurrencies in the market? And bitcoin is just one of them. Although many of these projects have been built atop other blockchain protocols such as Ethereum, there are also several other individual blockchains. This is likely to hamper the future of blockchain as it gets difficult to predict which cryptocurrency will dominate in the future. Therefore, it is essential to continuously keep tabs on how other cryptocurrencies are faring in the market. Furthermore, various governments and central banks are considering introducing their own cryptocurrencies, which could be in direct competition with bitcoin.
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