Bitcoin Forum

Most people thought that after the virus outbreak, money would go into Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies as Bitcoin is considered to be the only ‘’safe-haven’’ asset at the time of crisis. But Bitcoin collapsed by 15% after the virus outbreak, thereby defying people’s expectations.

However, it is to be remembered that the value of Bitcoin is driven by demand and not on factors like interest rates and GDP than other fiat currencies depend on. Therefore, the prices of Bitcoin though showing volatility is most of the time, still remain steady when other markets fall.

I get what you are trying to talk about. About the price of bitcoin that you said it remain steady, do not always follow only what you read because it can be misleading at times. The reason the price of bitcoin can be steady when cryptocurrencies prices are decresing is because some trades like to trade altcoin for bitcoin during the time of bear market. When the price is increasing, they like to trade bitcoin for altcoins. So, you are clearly right about this.

But, look at what happened recently, in February, bitcoin was over $10500, but later got to less than $4000 before it rose to over $6000 now. So, bitcoin actually fall in price and not steady at all too but not much like altcoins. I understand that Altcoins fall more than bitcoin but bitcoin really fall. That is why I told you to apply practicals too and not only believe on what you read.

About the recent pandemic viral attack
I do not expect people to be thinking the price of crypto will increase in such time. Some people still do not know about bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies as of today, some people still trade bitcoin for fiat because of the corona virus just to secure themselves or to treat the disease. This was the cause of the recent bear market in which investors were panic and sell their cryptocurrencies  for fiat.

I can see the most analysis want to relate the bitcoin's price crash with corona pandemic directly, which is far to be true in my opinion. We faced many crashes in the past, bitcoin is almost known by its huge volatility which leads more people to invest waiting the next pump. Volatility had always its reasons based on a variety of factors {mining difficulty, block reward,...}. But actually, all the sectors in global economy are falling down, some would reach the bottom within few months, while bitcoin still keep volatility ups and downs like it was before the crisis. And don't expect people to use crypto as a contactless system of paiement, there is already card banks and apps associated to bank accounts.
In our days,

money may go into bitcoin but it almost never goes into altcoins. the bitcoin investors sometimes also buy altcoins to make profit on whatever amount of bitcoin they already have.

this is wrong. there are other "safe havens" and bitcoin may actually be at the bottom of that list because of its volatility and lack of mass adoption.

first of all that is not a collapse, a collapse would be dropping down to $100. that is not even big crash.
secondly that doesn't change anything about whether or not bitcoin is "safe haven". if anything it proves that bitcoin price is like always volatile.

In times like this? People would surely look for reputable coins like Bitcoin,ethereum and other on top ranking coins since they are already in the real world application for digital payments.

Not a safe haven for a fact that it is volatile, safe haven should be stable and not volatile that's why we are calling it safe, no matter the time is we can expect our original capital when we bought it. how about Tether?

agree, it did not collapse, if it does then why the price is still on thousands? The fact that bitcoin is volatile having a price plum is normal at all, noting to worry about we are just having a setback due to the virus.

And the stock markets collapsed by 35%, even after interest rates were slashed twice and the biggest QE package in history.

Whoever said that top ranking coins were reputable? Half the coins in the top ten on coinmarketcap are outright scams.

I wouldn't call Tether a safe haven by a long shot. First of all, it is pegged to USD, which is being rapidly devalued as the Fed print trillions more dollars over the coming weeks. Secondly, it isn't fully backed up, and the proportion of it that is backed up is backed up with a variety of uncertain assets, include loan payments from Bitfinex to Tether for a $700 billion loan they made to themselves to cover their insolvency.

Don't look at the value right now because you would just feel disappointed with it, and if you're talking about the safe haven I guess you would need to look for stable coins instead because the market of Bitcoin is volatile, if you are thinking just like long term holders then you can say it is a safe haven indeed,

You got the wrong idea about Bitcoin if you're just thinking about easy money because there are certain risks involved in it as well you need to go down the basics and knowledge about volatileness, and right now not only the market of cryptocurrency is down but the stock market as well.

Bitcoin is not a safe haven, and never has been. It has the potential to be a safe haven, indeed to be the best safe haven, for reasons discussed and expounded upon many times before... but that is all in the future. Right now, crypto markets are small, and prone to volatility and speculation. Bitcoin itself is continually evolving, segwit and LN are steps on the road. We are not at the end point yet, but we are on the road, and that is the important thing.

For now, for the reasons stated, bitcoin is positively correlated with traditional assets. Most people outside crypto, and indeed many inside, see bitcoin as a gamble. It is something to invest in when times are good. And it is the first thing to sell when a crisis arrives. It will not always be that way. Just remember: we are still early in the journey. It is a long road, but we will get there in time. Don't panic. Take the long view.

Most of the markets has been collapsed or affected terrible but Bitcoin and crypto is still alive and kicking that itself differentiates crypto market from other market but believe it or not but COVID had it's effect on crypto world as well and we cannot deny the fact even though Bitcoin works on demand and supply but demands has been greatly reduced due to COVID and the panic it has created.

But it did recovered from the crash, $3800 to above $6k, so how do you call that?


Bitcoin could act as a 'safe haven', this is the first time that we have seen this pandemic, but you have to look at how crypto react to it. A lot of ups and down but it doesn't mean that it can't recover. Remember that we still have the halving in May.

You would think so, but I think that each newsworthy event presents a great opportunity for those controlling the markets to push the order books.

Not after. During the virus outbreak itself, those who have the extra money or investment money and are quite apprehensive about the traditional market will probably consider Bitcoin as the safer option. There are other options, of course, such as gold or even government bonds, but we all know how Bitcoin is existing quite apart from the traditional financial system which is the most tested at this point, which makes it a nice option.

Say's who? We really don't know if people are going to pour their money into bitcoin. Only bitcoin is considered as safe-haven, as fair as I know. But it is not a hedge against this kind of global pandemic.


You can't compare bitcoin and fiat, bitcoin as limited supply, while central banks can print as many as they want to cover everything.

I feel value of Bitcoin wouldn't exist if fiat was not injected into it. Supply of Bitcoin will get reduced after the halving but demand will only increase if investors have the money to buy it.

Current economic situation will result in global recession. This will affect the purchasing power of investors and common man. Resulting in global economic meltdown. Which will also affect the price of Bitcoin.

nobody could predict how bitcoin reacts to a worldwide economy crash and we still can't. but one thing has always been clear that bitcoin is never directly affected by any of the things that go on in the world such as the viral pandemics. the fact that price dropped is more about panics and market manipulation which could not have been predicted or prevented.

i don't like calling bitcoin an "asset" let another a "safe-haven asset"! bitcoin is a secure and unique alternative to the centralized fiat system. and that is one of the main reasons why we never see bitcoin follow any other markets movements. and also that is what gives bitcoin all its potential in the long term.

Exactly. There should be complete agreement with the fact that Cyrptocurrency as whole got its own boundaries within which it works!

"Gone those are the days when we assumed it's dependancy with real world movements"

It is simple, demand and supply thing.

The fiat currency prices does not depend on GDP.Nothing depends on GDP.The gross domestic product is just a bunch of statistical data.You are wrong about interest rates.They could increase the demand for Bitcoin,in certain situations.In the current situation,the low interest rates won't cause an increase of the Bitcoin price,because the banks will face problems with their liquidity and the people and businesses will have way lower revenue,so they don't have any money aside,that they can use to buy Bitcoin.

I think somehow this virus really affect one's country from time to time as its transmission is progressively increasing. Some other countries can handle this stock market crash like China, they are the one who should be responsible for the virus because it originated from them but still their stock market is not that affected. The true impact of Covid-19 in cryptocurrency is good, no one can go outside, all of the payments and transactions are in a form of online or digital. Bitcoin really was made for that besides as a store of value, it is really help and effective as a mode of payment for our bills, goods, or other expenses. This crisis will help promote the advantages and effects of crypto in our market and that will result to a mass adoption. But still the price of bitcoin is still in recovery so we still need to manage our bitcoin if we need to sell or hold it for a long period of time.

I kind of assumed as much.
I mean Covid caused a big stir and created alot of panic.
Panic meaning people losing their jobs or not getting paid, so I can understand people liquidating their coin to spend $$$ to feed them and their families.
This money will come back and much more after all this Covid stir is dealt with.
My prediction is, buy now.

There are so many things got affected by the virus,  and it is still existing so it affects so much things continuously,  even the market are being affected by the virus because of investors,  traders,  players,  etc.  who pulled out their money and converted it into fiat currency because of being afraid that bitcoin may be dead since the price of the bitcoin is still falling in the previous days and aside from that they also pulled it out to have money to sustain their lives while crisis is still there.

I'm thinking of the same thing because of the stimulus but it wouldn't be that much to expect. I'm eager to see the impact of halving rather than what's next when this virus is gone.

OP is right that market is driven by the demand and it's what we all know about bitcoin. We're just expecting something that will force it to go up and also encourage us during this time when it's very difficult to rely on our sources.

I have the same thought about it and I also think that once the covid is dealt and everything goes back to normal the price would start to go up again.
The only question is how long would it takes to get everything back to normal when people could walk freely and work without a fear again.

I think we will see everything in the coming weeks.

Anything pegged to the value of fiat is not a safe haven. People look for safe haven assets precisely because fiat is constantly being devalued. If you are considering holding stable coins as a store of value, then it would be much less risky to just hold fiat, as you aren't exposing yourself to the additional risks of shady third parties like Bitfinex/Tether.

Why not? It is entirely possible to transact entirely within the bitcoin ecosystem, without ever touching or even considering fiat. I can get paid for work in bitcoin, use that bitcoin to purchase goods, and the merchant can use that bitcoin to pay their staff or suppliers. No fiat necessary.

And then, how could people buy bitcoin in this times?
More like a spending time than saving more or investing with something.

My piggy bank is already broken by now since I don't want to spend much of my bitcoin because of the cheap exchange rate.
I cannot buy more since there is no work to be done and they won't let you go to your office.
So, the impact might be the other way, for now.

The time when it will be safe to walk along the street comes no earlier than the vaccine against coronavirus is invented, and perhaps some more effective methods of supporting the sick. But the vaccine still needs to be distributed, I think that in the best case, we will win no earlier than September, in the worst, the fight will be all year.

I do agree with you that covid19 should have a positive impact over bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general, but you forgot to mention that digital methods of paiements like bank cards/apps are taking place widely as an alternative to cash. We still need more time to see crypto taking place in regular daily paiements. This is why, imo, the crisis actually serves digital paiements in general, but once the fiat value shut down or we reach the end of the crisis, bitcoin and other cryptos will get more interests from people who will start looking for other methods preparing to future possible crisis.
For now, let's wait and see what will happen with the global economy.

But in the fact when the recession come or something bad that happened on some country who affect the economic is not run normaly the people only believe that sell all of his asset/investment and hold money fiat or some of them choose gold as final destination. They right actually, choosing gold will never make them lose maybe just have a little chance to lose.

As you have said, bitcoin was fallen when the recession came and that will be happened as well whe the recession are coming again. So it doesn't makes sense when the corona virus gone the price of bitcoin will surge drastically, although it happens maybe the reason for the increase will be halving event that I think it is rational.

Sir, where you saw ''crypto market still remain steady'' ? Market already fall down and we saw it when COVID-19 attack in Chaina. Yes BTC is driven by demand but people not doing straggle for their life so that demand is zero at this moment. So market go down and i think it will take time 6 month to come back again.

I totally agree with you and lots of people have misconceptions about cryptocurrency, I think it's time we all accept the reality behind cryptocurrency and not what's written on the papers. Bitcoin is not a safe-Haven and as such cannot flourish at the expense of global crisis. Cryptocurrency sector is just a digitized financial institution  that ought to provide a decentralized digital currency to give people the ultimate control to manage their financial activities without much interference of a third party and just like every investment options, the price of every cryptocurrency is determined by the force of demand and supply and these two economic theories depend majorly on global situation and as such bitcoin can only flourish when the global economy is thriving

Some people may have thought that but it's the first time since the founding of bitcoin that this degree of viral pandemic have affected the world. Our predictions about economics probably didn't covered this situation.  And as the price of USD is decreasing, the bitcoin too seems to be decreasing with it as almost everywhere it's now paired with USD.

I think the real effects of the COVID 19 virus in the cryptocurrency was still not yet happening since because of the lockdown a lot of business was not operating and I think after a few months that is the times we are going to experience the effects of the virus in the cryptocurrency, Also I think even at any moment or not as safe-haven I think bitcoin was still the safest cryptocurrency where you could invest your money with. Since it is the top cryptocurrency around the world for sure the demand of bitcoin here is surely not going to go down or reach zero easily.

Well, I guess it was possible to make an educated guess about Bitcoin's near future at the beginning of the year because that's what Antonopolous did: https://cointelegraph.com/news/2-months-ago-andreas-antonopoulos-explained-why-bitcoin-would-crash. His arguments made sense to me, and after his prediction became reality I've watched an interview where he talked about Bitcoin's prospects in the time of economic crisis. It was quite evident that he agreed we cannot predict the long-term Bitcoin behavior, and I think we still can't. But I guess it was to a certain extent predictable that Bitcoin would go down at first, even though I did not expect that.