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A Bitcoin bull run seems almost inevitable after the currency’s value smashed through the $10k barrier today, breaking out of the sluggish bear run that has occupied the greater part of Q1 2018. A swift rise of over 9.2% in the last 24 hours has conservative market observers cautiously predicting a short-lived rally based on BTC’s year-to-date performance, but history has taught us that a Bitcoin bull run can be a force of nature.
Bitcoin may be down 39% on its year to date, but appears to be swiftly recovering from a recent downturn that saw prices drop to almost $6,000 at the beginning of the month. While the cryptocurrency market may be breathing a collective sigh of relief as the value of the dominant crypto begins to ascend into the 10k resistance zone, it’s highly likely that we’re about to see a repeat of Bitcoin’s late November 2017 ascension— but this time, we’re going to the moon.
Bear with us as we break down the seven reasons why Bitcoin’s 10k break is about to spark a strong bull run that will take us all the way to 40k.
The $10,000 Bitcoin barrier has long been held as the psychological breaking point of the cryptocurrency. In a statement made before BTC’s historic price run last year, CryptoCompare CEO Charles Hayter referred to the $10,000 mark as a “seminal moment”.
“$10k represents the closing of the second cycle in Bitcoin which has drawn the interest of institutional investors who have so far been constrained from trading by their remits. This is starting to change as more sophisticated and regulated instruments are made available. This will lead to Bitcoins third cycle.”
The re-crossing of the $10k Rubicon is set to reaffirm the truth lying dormant in the hearts of HODLers around the world— Bitcoin is here to stay. Casual investors observing the market are now poised to enter the fray in order to capitalize on a “second chance” at the dazzling profits generated during December ‘17, adding momentum to the positive swing.
Bitcoin first broke the $10k ceiling on the 29th of November last year and, after a short 24-hour feeding frenzy that saw prices shaved back down to a little over $9k, soared to $17,000 in a little over one week. Bitcoin has remained impetuous over the course of its tenure as the reigning king of the crypto market, defying prediction and exploding in breakout runs without warning.
Bitcoin, and the cryptocurrency market as a whole, is the target of endless speculation. Bitcoin has now “died” more than 250 times according to the mainstream media but, in reality, the crypto-party has only just started— and the institutional money is about to arrive.
Infamous crypto-skeptic JP Morgan Chase CEO has recently changed his tune on the Bitcoin debate, acknowledging that “The blockchain is real”. Incumbent financial institutions around the world are now eyeballing blockchain solutions to hedge their bets against the disruptive potential of the market.
Ultimately, interest on an individual level catalyzes interest from the institutional level. With Bitcoin hedge funds raking in profits and institutional investors such as Goldman Sachs considering entering the crypto market directly, you can bet that BTC’s return to $10k has institutional money champing at the bit.
The number one issue plaguing the Bitcoin blockchain at the moment is scalability. While Bitcoin may be the biggest, baddest token in the crypto playground, it still hasn’t been able to surmount the ever-growing issue presented by increasing transaction numbers.
As it stands, Bitcoin can only process around 7 transactions per second. Bitcoin’s recent surge in popularity has slowed its network almost to a standstill, with average transaction confirmation times stretching out to several hours and transaction fees reaching almost $40.
The Lightning Network, however, promises to solve the scalability problem. By creating payment channels between network participants in an organic manner, the Lightning Network overlay promises transaction speeds of millions or even billions of transactions per second.
If the LIghtning Network solution takes hold, then Bitcoin will have a phenomenally fast transaction per second rate that leaves the competition— including Visa and Mastercard— eating dust. The Lightning Network testnet is already live, and when it hits the Bitcoin Mainnet it’s highly likely that we’ll see a dramatic explosion in BTC value. This, on its own, could usher in a Bitcoin bull run – but as part of the perfect storm of opportunity, it could be the strongest reason yet why the cryptocurrency is heading up fast.
The behavior of regulatory bodies around the world has a profound impact on the price of Bitcoin and the health of the cryptocurrency market as a whole. In recent history Bitcoin prices have taken a savage beating due to rumors of crypto-bans in countries such as Korea or China.
The regulatory outlook for a Bitcoin bull run in 2018, however, is looking extremely strong. With Arizona considering allowing residents to pay taxes in Bitcoin and the US House of Representatives pivoting to a positive, supportive stance toward blockchain technology, it’s clear that Bitcoin and blockchain technology is rapidly approaching widespread legitimacy.
A major driver for Bitcoin’s 2018 bull run will be adoption. Coinbase announced the launch of a new merchant solution that will allow businesses to accept cryptocurrency on the 15th of February, facilitating the use of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin as an everyday payment method:
“Our mission at Coinbase is to create an open financial system, so we’ve designed this solution to serve merchants worldwide.”
The ability to use Bitcoin as an everyday payment method combined with the dramatic increase in transaction efficiency promised by the Lightning Network will create the perfect storm for widespread consumer adoption, turbocharging BTC into its longest bull run yet.
It’s no secret that the volatile cryptocurrency market currently lives and dies by the hand of mainstream media news. With so many news outlets spreading “FUD” or fear, uncertainty, and doubt during the first quarter of 2018, cryptocurrency market values have been on the ropes.
Bitcoin’s strong return to $10k, however, sustained by a rapid rise on the back of investor confidence, will likely swing the mainstream news media back to a tone of positive astonishment and drive more capital back into the Bitcoin market.
Bitcoin’s current breakout is set to take us there. With the early February dip eliminating weak hands from the market and market analysts predicting a $1 trillion market cap by the end of 2018, it’s clear that we’re about to see Bitcoin bounce back— hard.
Samuel is a freelance journalist, digital nomad, and crypto enthusiast based out of Bangkok, Thailand. As an avid observer of the rapidly evolving blockchain ecosystem he specializes in the FinTech sector, and when not writing explores the technological landscape of Southeast Asia. Follow him on Twitter: @sam_town_writes
