How Bitcoin became the decade’s biggest unicorn

[JessicaVL]

Over the last decade, Bitcoin has gone through a lot of changes. Bitcoin first came on the scene in 2008, when Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin whitepaper, outlining the features of the digital asset. Since then, Bitcoin has launched an entire industry - the digital asset industry - which has an overall market cap of $190,109,228,120 at the time of writing. The biggest surprise of the last ten years isn’t Uber or Airbnb - it’s the OG cryptoasset. So, here’s how Bitcoin became the decade’s biggest unicorn.

https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1202057047962988545?s=12

A brief history of Bitcoin prices
The first real-world Bitcoin transaction took place on 22 May 2010, when Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas in Jacksonville, Florida for a whopping 10,000 BTC. Today, those Bitcoins would be worth $71,745,800 - which is pretty steep for two pizzas if we’re being honest.

Still, it wasn’t until around 2013 that the digital currency really started to take off. Bitcoin started the year trading at around $13.50 per Bitcoin, and the price rallied briefly to $220, before dropping back down to $130 by mid-April.

In December 2013, the price rallied to $1,230 which was the highest price it had achieved at the time. Admittedly, the price then fell by 39% over a couple of days.

In December 2017, Bitcoin reached its peak (as of now), hitting a whopping $20,089. It quickly leveled out, but the precedent had already been set - Bitcoin would top the peak price in the near future, come hell or high water.

Now, we’re heading for the next Bitcoin halving in May 2020, which has historically heralded a bull run for the coin. With many analysts reporting that Bitcoin may very well reach a $1 trillion market cap in the next few years, Bitcoin certainly has some room to grow.

Uber and Airbnb
When we look at Uber and Airbnb, arguably two of the biggest startups in the world, the level of growth we see with Bitcoin is even more staggering. While we’re taking a look at how Bitcoin became the decade’s biggest unicorn, it probably makes sense to examine the growth of others.

In the space of only 7 years, Bitcoin went from being worth $0.0008 per coin to $20,089 per coin. That’s practically unheard of. Comparatively, Uber only went public this year, and it’s shares are sitting at around $31. Airbnb has yet to launch their own IPO, although they have stated their plans to go public in 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzteWp4sAFY

Uber was founded in 2009, the same year as Bitcoin, and has a market cap of $52,32 billion (at the time of writing). Airbnb was founded in 2008, and in 2018 had a market cap of $38 billion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tc9YScMtN8

Contrastingly, Bitcoin has a market cap of $130,676,647,522, which accounts for 68.2% of the total market cap for the cryptoasset industry.

So, what makes Bitcoin unique? For one, Bitcoin is a totally different asset class to Airbnb and Uber - we can’t get around that. Bitcoin was technically invented as a means of exchange, and that hasn’t really happened yet. Yes, you can pay with Bitcoin at many different vendors all around the world, but Bitcoin payments haven’t yet gone as mainstream as intended. Regulatory bodies are still uncertain about what to do with the digital asset, and governments remain largely wary.

And yet, Bitcoin has amassed a following and a level of devotion that has enabled it to climb higher and higher, and grow stronger and stronger. So, how did Bitcoin become the decade’s biggest unicorn? We’ve all seen the potential it has, the industry it’s founded, and the utility that it brings to the table. Bitcoin has the potential to completely revolutionize the global financial industry, and the fact that it has turned into an incredibly profitable, if volatile, asset isn’t a miracle - it makes total sense.

If you want to trade Uber stocks or Bitcoin, check out eToro, the world’s leading social trading platform.

The 2020s belong to Bitcoin
So, here’s how Bitcoin became the decade’s biggest unicorn - pushing Uber, Airbnb and other start-ups out of the way. With a market cap of $130 billion (at the time of writing) Bitcoin dwarfs companies in other asset classes in a huge way. It’s no secret that Bitcoin is volatile, but in many ways that has worked in its favor. The 2020s belong to Bitcoin, so let’s see what happens next.


https://www.cryptopolitan.com/how-bitcoin-became-the-decades-biggest-unicorn/

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[Wind_FURY]

I believe the word "unicorn" is wrongly used. Isn't it when "something" is a "unicorn", it's something that can't be attained, or is out of reach?

[Mbitr]

I believe the word "unicorn" is wrongly used. Isn't it when "something" is a "unicorn", it's something that can't be attained, or is out of reach?

Yes , I’d have to agree with Wind_FURY here. When the term ‘ Unicorn’ is used in this financial sense, it’s used as ‘ Unicorn Company ‘. Bitcoin as we all know is not a company, and can’t really be compared to start ups or any similar businesses as such.

[Mandoy]

The term unicorn did really made a fuss. But what is really the similarity of bitcoin and the unicorn. The unicorn is a kind of horse with wings, a mythical horse like no other. Bitcoin on the other hand is the king of cryptocurrency like no other.  Unicorn can fly and soar in the sky and so is bitcoin it can soar to the moon during bullish moments but just like the unicorn who gets back to land after it fly bitcoin also has bearish moments.

But seriously, bitcoin is a unicorn because bitcoin is legendary. It has made greater feats in the cryptocurrency world and up to now is still the king and the leading cryptocurrency in the world. It has brought about big changes in the financial economy and has brought many people into riches in just years of holding. In short  bitcoin is the mythical cryptocurrency that is loved by many.

[bitcoindusts]

The term unicorn did really made a fuss. But what is really the similarity of bitcoin and the unicorn. The unicorn is a kind of horse with wings, a mythical horse like no other. Bitcoin on the other hand is the king of cryptocurrency like no other.  Unicorn can fly and soar in the sky and so is bitcoin it can soar to the moon during bullish moments but just like the unicorn who gets back to land after it fly bitcoin also has bearish moments.

But seriously, bitcoin is a unicorn because bitcoin is legendary. It has made greater feats in the cryptocurrency world and up to now is still the king and the leading cryptocurrency in the world. It has brought about big changes in the financial economy and has brought many people into riches in just years of holding. In short  bitcoin is the mythical cryptocurrency that is loved by many.

Isn't the horse with wings is called pegasus?  Unicorn on the other hand is a horse with one horn in the middle of its forehead.  It is a mythical creature that can only appear in a person's dream or wild imagination.  Though I am a bit confuse about being Bitcoin a unicorn since as what Wind_fury stated it is out of reach while Bitcoin  is already within reach.

[YuginKadoya]

A huge amount of investment, people's faith in something new-that's what made it the biggest unicorn.

The Biggest Unicorn, in my opinion, is not suitable for Bitcoin because Unicorn is a mythical creature that we can elaborate bitcoin as a not existing thing, well this is just my opinion, and I think there are many people opinion about that matter about what is Bitcoin if you would depict it as a creature,

Let's say it is a lion in my standpoint where it can depict as a king of the jungle well aside from that well Bitcoin is really had make a move back then from $7000 USD to $9000 USD we can say that it increases numbers and the year right now is year of the rat and rats surely are creatures that spread fast in numbers.

[kryptqnick]

Uber and Airbnb
When we look at Uber and Airbnb, arguably two of the biggest startups in the world, the level of growth we see with Bitcoin is even more staggering. While we’re taking a look at how Bitcoin became the decade’s biggest unicorn, it probably makes sense to examine the growth of others.

In the space of only 7 years, Bitcoin went from being worth $0.0008 per coin to $20,089 per coin. That’s practically unheard of. Comparatively, Uber only went public this year, and it’s shares are sitting at around $31. Airbnb has yet to launch their own IPO, although they have stated their plans to go public in 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzteWp4sAFY

Uber was founded in 2009, the same year as Bitcoin, and has a market cap of $52,32 billion (at the time of writing). Airbnb was founded in 2008, and in 2018 had a market cap of $38 billion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Tc9YScMtN8

Contrastingly, Bitcoin has a market cap of $130,676,647,522, which accounts for 68.2% of the total market cap for the cryptoasset industry.

So, what makes Bitcoin unique? For one, Bitcoin is a totally different asset class to Airbnb and Uber - we can’t get around that. Bitcoin was technically invented as a means of exchange, and that hasn’t really happened yet. Yes, you can pay with Bitcoin at many different vendors all around the world, but Bitcoin payments haven’t yet gone as mainstream as intended. Regulatory bodies are still uncertain about what to do with the digital asset, and governments remain largely wary.

And yet, Bitcoin has amassed a following and a level of devotion that has enabled it to climb higher and higher, and grow stronger and stronger. So, how did Bitcoin become the decade’s biggest unicorn? We’ve all seen the potential it has, the industry it’s founded, and the utility that it brings to the table. Bitcoin has the potential to completely revolutionize the global financial industry, and the fact that it has turned into an incredibly profitable, if volatile, asset isn’t a miracle - it makes total sense.

If you want to trade Uber stocks or Bitcoin, check out eToro, the world’s leading social trading platform.

The 2020s belong to Bitcoin
So, here’s how Bitcoin became the decade’s biggest unicorn - pushing Uber, Airbnb and other start-ups out of the way. With a market cap of $130 billion (at the time of writing) Bitcoin dwarfs companies in other asset classes in a huge way. It’s no secret that Bitcoin is volatile, but in many ways that has worked in its favor. The 2020s belong to Bitcoin, so let’s see what happens next.


https://www.cryptopolitan.com/how-bitcoin-became-the-decades-biggest-unicorn/

Like you say, Bitcoin is very different from Uber and Airbnb, and honestly, I don't think they're even comparable. Bitcoin is money and should be compared with other currencies or at least payment systems. Uber offers taxi (and food delivery), Airbnb is mainly known for housing. Bitcoin does not have this specific thing it offers, and it is not some shares one can buy to profit from Bitcoin's 'product'. See, that even sounds weird, because Bitcoin IS the product, sort of. It does not offer anything else but itself, and it is very universal in terms of usage, unlike Uber or Airbnb.

[HammaSan]

I have been investing in Bitcoin since 2012. I don't know why, but since I saw the project in 2012 I believed that it was the future of money. I lost a lot of money on MtGox but I still believe in Bitcoin. In 2012 I told my children: "buy bitcoin". And today more than before I say "buy bitcoin".

[xiboothrezi]

I believe the word "unicorn" is wrongly used. Isn't it when "something" is a "unicorn", it's something that can't be attained, or is out of reach?

You are right, the term unicorn is used in a start-up (= new business) whose value is considered to be over $ 1 billion ^{oxford dictionari}. So it can not be compared. If we want to talk about unicorns in cryptocurrency, we can take the example of companies that focus on the blockchain, please read the following article: Crypto Unicorns: Top 10 Most Valuable Blockchain Companies

[X-ray]

If there's a crypto company that can be called unicorn it's coinbase despite all the flaws it has. Saying bitcoin as a unicorn is like saying USD, EUR, or any other currency a unicorn aswell. Meanwhile, bitcoin has no company or any centralised organization controlling it and it has been repeatedly said that BTC was initially created as a currency.

[dothebeats]

I believe the word "unicorn" is wrongly used. Isn't it when "something" is a "unicorn", it's something that can't be attained, or is out of reach?

Was the case back then, but not now. We have had some episodes of highly-improbable events that we have attained over the last decade, one of which is breaking the psychological barrier about breaching the Nov. 2013 ATH which is $1300. Nobody believed that bitcoin can do it, nor anyone ever thought about going near it. But the events of Q4 2016 led us to believe that anything is possible with bitcoin, which is why some deemed it as the 'Unicorn of the Decade' in countless facets. It might be misused in this sense but the way how bitcoin turned around the crypto winter of 2015 into something unimaginable makes it one for the books--fairytale books, if you may.

[hatshepsut93]

I believe the word "unicorn" is wrongly used. Isn't it when "something" is a "unicorn", it's something that can't be attained, or is out of reach?

The word "unicorn" has some strict meaning in finance - it refers to a startup company that reached a valuation of one billion USD and is not traded publicly. Bitcoin isn't a company, it isn't a stock - it's a currency or at least a commodity, and it was always traded publicly, so comparing it with stocks is completely pointless. It's like if someone discovered a new chemical element or a mineral and started comparing its price with stocks just to impress people.

[Artemis3]

I believe the word "unicorn" is wrongly used. Isn't it when "something" is a "unicorn", it's something that can't be attained, or is out of reach?

That is actually the case for the vast majority now. Bitcoin made early investors rich, but us late investors cannot expect much more than holding value, maybe something like 50% gain if a bull run comes at best, but nowhere near like the first spectacular years. Ok, it didn't look spectacular back then, you would have had to buy and hold for years ignoring the fear of "vapor money" etc. Those that risked, that minority, can live the rest of their lives in comfort.

Those 2009~16ish (cheap) bitcoins are out of reach. Bitcoin price increase slows down overtime, now that everyone knows it, now that everyone wants it, its too late. So yes, for most of us, its the fabled Unicorn, oh we wish we acted in 2010 or something, but we didn't, and there is no turning back.

You cannot buy bitcoin today, and expect 10 years later to sell it and not need to work ever again. That was true for the previous decade, but not for this one. You CAN gain some value, but nowhere near enough. Its still better than banks so at least we are left with a good COIN for posterity.

[wack slacker]

Bitcoin has increased in value in an extraordinary way.  Historically no asset class has been able to increase in value and have been known so quickly to the world.  Probably because of the internet.  In just 10 years Bitcoin has increased its first traded value by more than 26 million times.  I can't imagine what the future will be like but for now I still think bitcoin will be a good investment in the next 5 years.

[wozzek23]

Maybe if the government starts to regulate Bitcoin it might start to gain wide stream adoption, the only problem is that most people don’t want Bitcoin to be regulated because they think that’s not how it’s meant to be, and they are probably right about that because Bitcoin was created to give people the freedom to do whatever they want to do and use it for, so being regulated spoils that idea.

Only trully risky assets can be so profitable

Yeah sure, the level of risk is also the level of profit you can make from it. But what about when you lose your money? That’s the reason most people are afraid of investing their money in assets with high risk because they can lose their money at any time and it can take a long time to recover from the loss.

[avikz]

Over the last decade, Bitcoin has gone through a lot of changes. Bitcoin first came on the scene in 2008, when Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin whitepaper, outlining the features of the digital asset. Since then, Bitcoin has launched an entire industry - the digital asset industry - which has an overall market cap of $190,109,228,120 at the time of writing. The biggest surprise of the last ten years isn’t Uber or Airbnb - it’s the OG cryptoasset. So, here’s how Bitcoin became the decade’s biggest unicorn.

The practical use of unicorn in a sentence menas - "desirable but difficult to achieve". So when you are saying that bitcoin has helped to launch an industry worth 190 billion USD, how it can be termed as unicorn?

The correct phase would be - Bitcoin becomes this decade's epitome of success. That's more appropriate!

[Mumbeeptind1963]

Over the last decade, Bitcoin has gone through a lot of changes. Bitcoin first came on the scene in 2008, when Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin whitepaper, outlining the features of the digital asset. Since then, Bitcoin has launched an entire industry - the digital asset industry - which has an overall market cap of $190,109,228,120 at the time of writing. The biggest surprise of the last ten years isn’t Uber or Airbnb - it’s the OG cryptoasset. So, here’s how Bitcoin became the decade’s biggest unicorn.

The practical use of unicorn in a sentence menas - "desirable but difficult to achieve". So when you are saying that bitcoin has helped to launch an industry worth 190 billion USD, how it can be termed as unicorn?

The correct phase would be - Bitcoin becomes this decade's epitome of success. That's more appropriate!

Not only because bitcoin is the first created crypto in history and become the most popular. It is also have increasing value in unexpected, that's why many people are become interested to it. Even its run in decade many people still wanting to have it, not only because of huge value but because having a Bitcoin can help you to change your life.

[Kuffy]

There is so much misinformation about Unicorns. The early ones mentioned in the Bible were a single horned rhinoceros known as the Unicornus, as opposed to the two horned version called a Bicornus. The modern mythology seems to be derived from an early method of rounding up herds of wild horses. A domesticated stallion was released near a herd of wild horses, and it had a false horn strapped to it's head. Because of this horn, it rapidly became the alpha male, and when the horse traders called it over to them, it led the whole herd into captivity. This saved the many hours spent chasing single horses to catch them, and subject them to slavery.

Our modern equivalent is the Unicorn politician who leads his country into slavery and debt, and the Unicorn companies that are created to raise billions for the bankers without ever making a profit.

[FanatMonet]

In fact, it is also worth saying that in the current technological time, any companies that are somehow connected with IT have an order of magnitude better positions for growth than campaigns from the real sector of the economy. In addition to Bitcoin, you can cite the example of Apple / Alphabet / Amazon.