{"id":19204,"date":"2017-12-10T14:48:11","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T22:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/?p=19204"},"modified":"2019-11-07T02:56:22","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T02:56:22","slug":"bitcoin-birth-new-asset-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/bitcoin-birth-new-asset-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin – The Birth of a New Asset Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin's magic carpet ride this last year has been an exhilarating experience for many investors. \u00a0The nay-sayers and non-believers who either got off too soon or who never believed in magic carpets in the first place are probably cursing themselves.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to understand the pain of the non-believers just by glancing at Bitcoin\u2019s price history. It traded at $738 in January 2017, reached $3,000 by mid-year and soldiered on to almost $5,000 in September.<\/p>\n

\"BItcoin
Bitcoin is up 1860% over the past year and 130% over the past month.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At that point, various market commentators and nay-sayers dubbed Bitcoin<\/a> the biggest bubble ever. Jamie Dimon, the CEO of America\u2019s largest bank JPMorgan Chase & Co., famously called it a \u201cfraud,” something that \u201cwon\u2019t end well.”<\/a><\/p>\n

Many investors believed they were about to witness the mother of all crashes. They sold their entire Bitcoin collections on the back of the gloomy predictions, deciding to lock in profits of upwards of 500 percent for this year alone.<\/p>\n

At first, Bitcoin rocketed past $6,000 in October. Following that, it powered ahead non-stop, passing $11,000 in November and hitting over $18,000, where it traded recently. \u00a0Bitcoin is clearly not what the prophets of doom predicted. In fact, exactly the opposite.<\/p>\n

It might be safe to say that many \u2013 if not most – market enthusiasts and pessimists are still somewhat shell-shocked in the wake of Bitcoin\u2019s latest performance. The question begs \u2013 whereto from here?<\/p>\n

What's next?<\/h2>\n
\"Mt.
The collapse of Mt. Gox seems like a distant memory now, but when it happened back in 2011, it resulted in hundred of millions of dollars in losses for investors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the outset perhaps we should first agree on one thing:\u00a0Bitcoin<\/a> has come a long way from its bad rap owing to the Silk Road drugs saga and the Mt. Gox exchange failure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although the cryptocurrency concept has held great promise all along for the monetary needs of our digital age, Bitcoin\u2019s early media headlines certainly did not do it any favors in the eyes of the public.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, \u00a0the blockchain stepped in, waking investors to the true potential of Bitcoin and its crypto peers. \u00a0The blockchain was exactly the replacement traditional systems needed, which many agree have perhaps run their course.<\/p>\n

It appears currently that the appeal of digital currencies has no limits. A case in point is the market capitalization of Bitcoin<\/a>; \u00a0it took 8 years \u2013 from 2009 to early 2017 – to reach $15 billon.<\/p>\n

During the course of this current year alone, it multiplied 13 times, and is currently valued at $253 billion.<\/p>\n

Dawn of the Futures<\/h2>\n
\"What<\/a>
Bitcoin and Wall Street bankers have had a tenuous relationship, which some, such as Fidelity CEO Abigail Johnson and Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman coming out in favor of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies<\/a>, while others such as JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Ray Dalio (founder of Bridgwater) being its fiercest opponents.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In what many perceived to be a watershed moment for cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin recently received a milestone green-light from US Regulators. On 1 December, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced that Bitcoin futures trading can go ahead<\/a> on three exchanges: the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the CBOE Futures Exchange, and the Cantor Exchange.<\/p>\n

It is clear that Bitcoin, the pioneer of cryptocurrencies, is in vogue and has found major traction, especially as far as mainstream and regulatory adoption is concerned. This, in turn, has led to increased talk on finance street of Bitcoin's suitability to be included as an asset class in investment portfolios.<\/p>\n

Futures trading begins on Sunday at 3PM Pacific time and on its eve, cryptocurrencies markets were down double digits over the proceeding 24 hours. Many naysayers felt the need to double down on their criticism with tweets such as this:<\/p>\n

\n

Crypto slaughter on eve of futures trading. 10th largest crypto, NEM down 42% in past 24 hrs. #4 IOTA down 25%, Einsteinium -39%, Bitcoin -17% to $13.5K from $17K-$19K high late last week.Good chance those were the highs – never to be seen again. Welcome to backside of a parabola<\/p>\n

— fred hickey (@htsfhickey) December 10, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n