[2018-12-15]Crypto Market Registers a Swamp of New Investors Amid Meltdown

[Vladdirescu87]

The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance made a thorough study and noted that the number of confirmed users of digital currencies nearly doubled within the first nine months of this year. The study reveals that the real figure has soared from 18 million in 2017 to around 35 million customers this year. Two years ago, crypto users were approximated to be 5 million.

Read the details in the article of Coinidol dot com, the world blockchain news outlet: https://coinidol.com/crypto-market-registers-swamp-of-new-investors/

[Alex_Zi]

This situation is natural. According to the theory of waves, we expect growth soon (duing the year), since the drawdown is significant. Now is a time to invest, I think.

[buwaytress]

And that's probably still natural, given the attention Bitcoin's had in the past two years. We've also got all these tecchy millenials all ready and awash with fresh funds who're keen to invest. Surprisingly, past studies have shown these young 20 somethings are buying and intending to keep, so we know already that all these small amounts of new buys aren't going anywhere for the long term.

Then there's us earners who will want these prices to last - not really go lower since we have to liquidate for expenditure - so sideways trading for medium-terms of 1 or 2 years even suit us well.

[pixie85]

It was the same 2 years ago. A wave of investors came in 2013 and went through the cycle. Some of them lost money, sold and got out, some gained but also got out, some stayed and kept holding. In 2017 a new wave came rushing in and the process repeated again. Now we are at the point when most of burned investors got out of the market and new people see the opportunity of relatively low price that keeps whispering "what if I double your money in a month, just like last year?"  

[magneto]

I'm not sure whether or not this surge was a result of the bull market of 2017. If it was, then I wouldn't be surprised, as there were still a lot of people who went into the market speculatively at the start of the year with the presumption that the bull market would keep going.

However, even though prices are going down, I don't think that there is necessarily a decrease in adoption, or interest in bitcoin at all.

Quite the opposite, we see big institutions like Goldman Sachs all express their interest in potentially launching bitcoin trading products, or services. Even though this isn't necessarily actual adoption in the form of merchant usage, it would still be a spark for demand in the next bull market from a speculative point of view. That's a reason why I'm not concerned about this drop at all.

[cr1776]

It is less than 18 months until the next halving.  The decrease in supply has usually resulted in an increase in price 6-9 months after the halving.  (And sometimes in the build-up to it.)

If and when lightning use is widespread, there are more users and investors, and the halving occurs, there could be a confluence of events that results in another leg up.  We'll see, but if one looks at past history, there hasn't been a time when if you bought and held for more than a few years you didn't do quite well.

[exstasie]

It is less than 18 months until the next halving.  The decrease in supply has usually resulted in an increase in price 6-9 months after the halving.  (And sometimes in the build-up to it.)

If and when lightning use is widespread, there are more users and investors, and the halving occurs, there could be a confluence of events that results in another leg up.  We'll see, but if one looks at past history, there hasn't been a time when if you bought and held for more than a few years you didn't do quite well.

I'm betting the trend will continue as well and like you, I also see the fundamentals aligning to support another bull cycle.

The effects of the halving on supply should be felt after some months. If progress with Lightning continues at the current rate, I'm confident we'll see its user base explode in time because of the strong economic incentives: they can transact cheaply (even micropayments) and collect fees for routing transactions. I think this should both increase demand and decrease supply on exchanges.

[1Referee]

If and when lightning use is widespread, there are more users and investors, and the halving occurs, there could be a confluence of events that results in another leg up.

I'm seeing quite a positive sentiment developing around LN and people actually start to appreciate what it delivers so far. It requires some smoothening left and right when it concerns payment routing, but I'm sure this is just a matter of time, especially when there are more well funded/connected channels available.

In the end, if it starts doing what it should be doing, it wouldn't be a crazy thing if one or more large social media platforms incorporate LN. It allows people to tip friends, have them bet against each other by playing games, pay for media consumption, etc. Content creation is a big deal on platforms outside of youtube due their harsh restrictions.

We're just one spark away from mass adoption essentially. It might not be around the corner right now, but we'll be there eventually.