For my last post of 2018, I thought I would sum up what is taking place and what we can expect going forward.
In the world of cryptocurrency, 2018 was the Year of FUD. There is no denying that.
Throughout the entire year, we saw the mainstream media pound the living daylights out of this industry. At the same time, we had the actions on the regulators, which were heavily covered by the media casting a dark shadow over everything. The result was millions of people who might have looked at cryptocurrency were scared away.
Of course, we can couple this with the experience of millions who lost their shirts with a decline of anywhere from 70%-90% on most tokens. Those who bought a year ago are in a world of hurt.
Personally, I feel this was all part of a plan on the part of the elite. They control the message the media delivers and the rich are very good at manipulating things. This is something that Wall Street excels at. A few hundred billion dollar market is nothing for them to move. And move they did.
As we saw prices collapsing, the media coverage only got fiercer. Whether it was Bloomberg with their regular reports of how Bitcoin was going to zero or Michelle Lee on CNBC spouting off how cryptocurrency was not legitimate, the coordinated effort was effective.
Prices could not catch a break. The downward pressure was intense.
Which brings us to the point now. As we enter 2019, what does the landscape look like?
Based upon a couple of instances, I am proclaiming the FUD of 2018 over. My reasoning is not because 2018 is ending as much as the FUD is going away. Remember, Wall Street likes to manipulate and it is my belief they are flipping the switch. Time to turn things around.
The mainstream is starting to crack. In the past few days, there were two news reports that caught my attention.
We first have one of the leading cryptocurrency bashers, Bloomberg, who put up this interview on it's site.
This is a very pro-Bitcoin interview. For those who did not watch it, basically the message is Bitcoin has the potential to replace gold as the store of value. Even if it does not eclipse the yellow metal in market cap, there still is a great upside.
We are seeing this from Bloomberg? They have not said anything supportive about Bitcoin all year.
The we have this from Time.
http://time.com/5486673/bitcoin-venezuela-authoritarian/
There are few publications that are more mainstream than Time magazine.
Here we see a mainstream outlet talking about the benefits of Bitcoin and "Why It Matters For Freedom".
WTF? Did it really say that?
This is a huge reversal of what we witnessed throughout 2018. Bitcoin as a tool to combat authoritarian regimes? Who would have thought we see that outside Medium or Hackernoon? Yet here it is.
What is interesting about the Time article is that all governments are authoritarian. The nations that espouse democracy are not about freedom and liberty for their citizens. The governments walk all over their populations.
This means that Bitcoin matter for all citizens of the world, not just the ones who are in totalitarian situations that are obvious.
Take, for example, remittances. After ravaging the domestic economy, the Venezuelan regime is now taking a cut of money coming in from abroad. New laws force Venezuelans to go through local banks for foreign transactions, and require banks to disclose information on how individuals get and use their money.
Isn't this just precious? It reminds me of Cyprus deal where each bank account got a nice haircut.
Of course, I do not need to promote the benefits and virtues of cryptocurrency to the readers here. The point is we are starting to see a reversal from the mainstream media. I do not believe this is an accident.
2019 will not see the FUD continue. In fact, I expect that we will see a lot more stories start to emerge in the first quarter that are similar to this. They will promote the immutability aspect of cryptocurrency along with the ability to bypass authoritarian regimes.
That said, I am not going to say the drop in price is over. To start, none of this is financial advice. Secondly, markets can continue is the direction of a trend longer than anticipated. Changing the message is only the first step. The reversal of the markets could be months behind.
Nevertheless, without the headwind presented by the mainstream, 2019 will be a banner year for cryptocurrency. The underlying blockchain technology went through major development over the past 12 months. While prices were collapsing, innovation was "mooning". Thus, we are looking at a technology that is getting close to being able to solve real world problems.
In closing the year out, I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year.
2019 is going to be a lot of fun .
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thanks for the optomistic take on 2019. I always try to start every new year with an upbeat outlook. $10,000 Bitcoin would go a long way to cementing my year.
I just made a Lightning Network payment. It worked great and shows major potential. The security of the Bitcoin Network with scalability and blisteringly fast micro payments at low fees. I am impressed.
A lot was achieved in 2018. A great position to start 2019.
Lightning Network has 4000+ nodes out there by my understanding. If it is scalable and fast, with low transaction fees, then crypto may be ready for another run at mass adoption.
A BTC fan!!
A HODLer to be exact. 😎
I'm looking forward to a fudless 2019. I truly appreciate your anti-FUD visions and blogs. The media loves to jump on the popular bandwagon and stomp on cryptocurrency. I'm glad that there is a place like STEEM to educate people. Once cryptocurrency becomes popular to praise rather than to slam, then media will switch in a heartbeat. It all feeds their bottom line which is viewership. Bloomberg has been notorious about switching sides. I've read two Bloomberg articles that were polar opposite about cryptocurrency published on the very same day. It is all about sensationalism and very little truth. After reading too many false reporting from Bloomberg, I take Bloomberg articles as fiction. However, positive articles may be a sign of a new wave in popular sensationalism.
Last year this time I was thinking $10 Steem was not far off and if we hit that then I'd be good to go financially. This year I'm hoping for $1 Steem in 2019. Thanks to super cheap prices I was able to buy a decent amount and now I've come down from $10 to $1 as my target for financial freedom. So yes, 2018 sucked and depressed us all, but it did give me a chance to seize opportunities I never thought I'd get. Here's to a better 2019. :)
Now that bitcoin is going to take off... what about the
FUDOMO?
Fear uncertainty and Doubt Of Missing Out.
Yeah, soon they will turn on the FOMO facet to run things up.
The money players do know how to manipulate things.
@taskmaster4450 Happy New Year and 2019 Will Be a Great Crypto Year !
I couldn´t agree more!
2018 was a year of FUD, but it also was an entire year of development that was not reflected on the price/value of the coins. The reality is that sooner or later the manipulation will end and it will be given green light for the future to be implemented.
Happy new year! I know we will do well this year. We had a good humbling this year. And I am glad the bear market punished us.
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We are only one DApp or great interface away from bring adoption in masses so it is better to be ready and get in by scaling! Looking for a great 2019 and a start to the Age of Abundance my friend!
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Yes I have also been thinking most of the fud is over for now.
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BITCOIN IS GOING TO ZERO GUYZZ!! 10 seconds later: Bitcoin can be a better store of value than gold. Well then.
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To support your work, I also upvoted your post!
You actually may be right. This news can't be a coincidence.
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Let's hope so, happt new year taskmaster!
Yeah I am seeing some action in cryptosphere already with ETH taking back the 2nd spot from ripple. I am dashed tired of speculations reading, lets see what the year unfolds for the crypto enthusiasts. I do believe by the way that crypto frees one from control from Governments, its supply cannot be tampered by authorithies and so, its going to be FUN surely. Lovely writeup. Good year to you.