The start of 2018 hasn’t brought good news for Bitcoin investors, with the cryptocurrency’s value falling, perhaps signalling another year of turmoil.
Bitcoin, which hit a record high value of $19,511 on December 18th, has fallen dramatically over the festive season to $13,587 at time of writing.
The current value actually marks a slight rebound after the opening value of $13,412, according to coindesk.
The value of Bitcoin skyrocketed after the launch of Bitcoin futures at the start of December, but both now have fallen in value, perhaps settling to a more sustainable levels than those reached in mid-December.
Investors and followers of Bitcoin will likely be getting used to the dramatic fluctuations in the value of the cryptocurrency, with 2017 being a year of highs and lows.
At the start of 2017 the cryptocurrency was valued at around $1,200, quickly surpassing the value of gold by the ratio of an ounce to a unit and breaking further records as the year went on.
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A hard fork, which saw the creation of Bitcoin Cash, and the threat of Segwit2x failed to dent confidence in it and it soon reached close to the $20,000 mark.
However, the overall success shouldn’t obscure the dramatic fluctuations in value seen over the year. After jumping past $5,000 a $13bn sell-off led to it dropping below $4,400. In November the value fell by $2,345, with the wobble attributed to the decision to abandon the hard fork known as Segwit2x.
Mati Greenspan, an analyst with trading platform eToro told Business Insider: “This new asset class has probably seen the quickest rise in value and market capitalization of any asset class in any year in history. The total value of all cryptocurrencies in circulation has risen by 3,137% from January 1st to December 31st.
“The amazing thing is that the rate of acceleration has continued to increase as the year progressed. Even the massive pullback that we saw in the week leading up to Christmas seems like a tiny blip when we look at the big picture.”
