The price of bitcoin (BTC) has dropped more than 30 percent in four days, and it looks headed for even worse territory as of this writing. Veterans have braced for its eventuality. However, there are many newly onboarded, and they’re only used to the world’s most popular cryptocurrency dipping slightly in an effort to rise again ever-higher, quickly. For perspective, here’s a look at some of the more memorable crashes.
After an all-time high this week, the decentralized cryptocurrency took a quarter haircut, and is looming toward sub 13,000 USD if price drama continues. Already, bitcoin has beaten its recent price weakness of 10 December, and news isn’t helping. Mempool congestion, internal politics, higher transaction fees, another exchange bankrupt, and charges of insider trading among one of the more popular US platforms, might be forcing weaker hands to sell.
Early days, bitcoiners’ expectations matched what was achieved, and in two years bitcoin achieved parity with the US dollar, a milestone many believed at the time was remarkable. And then it broke out, climbing to 19.00 USD by Summer of the same year, 2011. Ill-fated Japanese exchange Mt. Gox’s first recorded implosion happened, and the price buckled some three dollars literal minutes after news hit. It wasn’t over. For one week in June 2011, BTC price shook a nasty 68 percent after a high of 32.00 USD, sending it into a bearish run where it scraped to a paltry 2.00 USD by November. That 30 dollar range would not return for more than a year.
2012 began with a scary 36% slump, and by mid-August the price was up to double digits at least. That was until it collapsed by over 50%, back down to single digits by the 19th.
After bouncing back in 2013, and going on somewhat of a bull tear that year, December brought about a cold, cold shower. Yet another exchange took a dump, China issued warnings, and with it came the BTC price, more than half, gutted. Before the end of April, BTC had crashed a few times, with a giant 61 percent correction by the 10th. But it soldiered on, again, until early December. That’s when it went from 1,200 USD to less than 600, seemingly overnight.
2014 was a uniquely miserable year for the digital asset. Arrests, Silk Road shut down, the scaling debate heats up, DDoS attacks loom, the IRS declares bitcoin a property, and, of course, Mt. Gox vanishes. Some feel the ecosystem is still trying to recover from 2014 in more ways than just the half price drop.
2015 and 2016 see less crashes and a smoothing out of BTC price, but 2016 rears up and reminds holders not to get complacent. Bitstamp is hacked, and BTC falls by nearly half that Summer.
The beginning of the Year of Bitcoin, 2017, saw BTC slip 30 percent on news China was mulling greater restrictions, which they later would impose. Hardly anyone would call it a crash-laden year, but there have been a few large dips snuck-in for good measure.
The trend over nearly a decade, however, is this: as much as bitcoin is propped up by hucksters looking to make a fast buck, there are many more still who work on building the project along every day. If BTC continues to have value, people will choose to support it.
And remember, it’s not the first time Bitcoin has crashed.
Comment your opinions friends.