BITCOIN suffered a crashing blow in 2018 when it plunged in value, first in January and then again this month. The digital token has not recovered from its December high of nearly $20,000 and is still down 50 percent in value from two months ago. Will 2018 be the worst year yet for the the cryptocurrency?
Today, bitcoin has risen again above three figures to reach $10,016 but it is too early to say yet whether the cryptocurrency has made a comeback.
Concerns about hacking and calls for greater government regulation from countries such as India, South Korea and China have all added to the market’s uncertainty this year, causing huge volatility over recent weeks.
Even Ellen De Generes has waded into the argument saying of bitcoin investors, “you’ll either be a millionaire or you’ll be totally broke”.
The comedian and TV host said: ”It's like a plot twist in a confusing movie, when you're watching a movie and your friends are acting like they know what's going on, and you're like, 'Yeah, I do too.'
"Pretend like bitcoin is a goat. Now it's adorable... and you want to pick it up and you want to pet it. But you can't because it's not there, it doesn't exist except for on that Internet right there, just like bitcoin is digital currency."
Will 2018 be the worst year yet for cryptocurrency?
Dennis de Jong, managing director of UFX, says he believes cryptocurrencies remain strong and will not plummet for good in 2018.
He told Express.co.uk: “It may not capture the headlines like the volatility of bitcoin has in recent months, but there’s been considerable advances in the underlying technology of the blockchain.
“Many industries are already live with, or in the process of testing, blockchain use cases that have potentially huge knock-ons for data management and security advancements.
“The relationship between crypto usage and investment in the space underpins bitcoin’s value to an extent, and for this reason I can’t see it going anywhere soon."
But as central banks attempt to kickstart regulation - Citibank India being the latest financial authority this week to ban cryptocurrency payments on debit or credit card - some investors believe the market slump could be an indicator of an overall crash in all financial markets.
Bleakley Financial Group CIO Peter Boockvar said: “If bitcoin resumes its decline here, I think that equity investors should pay attention.
“It's a sign that maybe risk aversion is creeping into the markets again,” he told CNBC's "Futures Now."
Other analysts are also lining up to make their bets on what will happen in the coming months.
Rob Moore, co-founder of Progressive Property and bitcoin investor, says there was previously a lot of fake news about prices “which has caused confusion and uncertainty”.
He told Express.co.uk: “There's actually a huge amount of capital about to flow into this sector in 2018 with over 1,000 new cryptos coming online.
“Also many gateways where you can convert your pounds into cryptos are coming online which at the moment is one of the biggest inhibitors to market cap growth."