Bitcoin in 2018: how much it will cost

The outgoing year was very successful for Bitcoin investors. The cost of the most famous cryptocurrency of the world has grown more than 10 times. But the next year everything can drastically change.

Img. source: coinmarketcap.com

In early 2017 Bitcoin costed about $1,000. But in August its price exceeded $3,000. This growth didn’t stop, despite the increasingly loud statements of skeptics about a new global bubble. In the autumn the price of bitcoin began to beat records almost every day and finally reached its apogee on December 16. Then 1 BTC costed $19,343.

After that, the Bitcoin’s price rolled back and now holds at the level about $15,000. Despite a successful year, in the future the first cryptocurrency can meet with many challenges. How much will Bitcoin cost in 2018, and what its price will depend on?

Such a huge growth its market capitalization (about $2.6 trillion) puts it on a par with the capitalization of the US stock market. This fact let to be sure that Bitcoin will be a significant competitor to the dollar as a means of payment, and its blockchain technology is a notable thing in the world economy, but it will not happen exactly in the coming year.

Moreover, the second wave of Bitcoin decline is not ruled out. There are three reasons for this:
Unresolved scalability problem. The SegWit2x hard fork was canceled in August, and the block size remained at 1 MB. It led to significant increase of the cost and time of transactions. This undermines the credibility of Bitcoin as a means of payment.

Tougher attitude towards Bitcoin by the US authorities. Many American exchanges require their clients to undergo verification. For example, the largest cryptoexchange Bitfinex refused to cooperate with American citizens because of several complexities.

It will be hard for Bitcoin to return to $20,000 quickly. Those who bought the coin in the range $12,000-20,000 will fell themselves uncomfortable. They bought Bitcoin thinking it would continue rapid growth, but it turned out that the digital money fall quickly.

It may generate a second wave of decline, with the support line at about $10,000. In the future, the dynamics of Bitcoin’s price will depend on solving the scalability problem. In case of success it will regain the status of a payment facility. If not, then the initiative can be intercepted by other cryptocurrencies (for example, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin or Ethereum).

Another important factor is the world authorities’ attitude to cryptocurrencies. While most occupy a wait-and-see attitude - they do not officially prohibit (seeing the prospects of blocking technologies), but they are not allowed it, too (because of insufficient knowledge and risks). In case of their loyalty Bitcoin can rise to $25,000-30,000, otherwise it can roll back to $5,000.

Recognition of the cryptocurrency in Belarus can encourage Russia to do the same, otherwise in the Eurasian Union, the Belarussians will have leadership in the new sphere.


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