Is This the Best Time to Get into Cryptocurrency?

    LONDON, ENGLAND, January 23, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The financial news has been filled with headlines about cryptocurrency for over a year now and this has undoubtedly played a part in the huge increases in value the likes of Bitcoin and the rest have experienced.

While plenty acted quickly and got in on cryptocurrency, many other potential investors who have been cautiously considering making a move have held back fearing that the opportunity had gone when Bitcoin reached $20,000 and others like Ethereum and Ripple started making big gains.

Warnings about bubbles, regardless of who was making them, have largely gone unheeded. New price records have been set then broken on a regular basis. However, a market correction was always going to happen.

It's been nothing like the drastic fall some commentators have predicted (remember Bitcoin was valued at around $900 in December 2016). However, on January 17 Bitcoin has tumbled to around $10,000 after reports that a ban on trading of cryptocurrencies in South Korea was possible. The fears of a regulatory crackdown sparked a domino effect on the broader cryptocurrency market with Ethereum dropping 23 per cent and Ripple 33 per cent on the same day.

While some may view this as the beginning of the end of cryptocurrency trading, it's more likely to be the breather this market will take while the new financial instruments that are growing up around cryptocurrencies settle in and the authorities firm up their decisions on how virtual coins will be regulated.

This could be exactly the right time to make a shrewd investment in cryptocurrency while prices dip as some fear a complete collapse and others try to get out of cryptocurrency altogether.

The evidence that cryptocurrency will be around for a lot longer is hard to ignore.

Bitcoin futures have only just come into play. CME Group have launched their own futures contract. Just days ago, Goldman Sachs gave Bitcoin its biggest credibility boost yet after Bloomberg reported that it is setting up a cryptocurrency trading desk. This news was followed up by a nine-page report entitled Bitcoin as Money where they predict that cryptocurrency will be even bigger this year than it was in 2017.

Even JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said he regrets calling Bitcoin a fraud and according to a report in Forbes they will try to position themselves as a future clearinghouse for cryptocurrency.

Blockchain technologies are the backbone of the crypto world and it seems more and more likely that this technology will go mainstream as the likes of Microsoft, IBM, Maersk and even Kodak develop methods to implement it.

In 2018 more companies will allow bitcoin as a form of payment joining the likes of Expedia who allow users to make travel arrangements in Bitcoin.

Why use Bitcoin and not your local currency? If Bitcoin prices are rising then your travel costs are going to be less than if they were being paid for in your local currency. The main issue with using Bitcoin for payment now is that it is not always seamless.

However, you can now buy property in Dubai with Bitcoin and the two economists behind the Goldman Sachs report think that Bitcoin could become a portfolio asset comparable to gold. They also see the potential of Bitcoin filling the demand for an internationally accepted medium of exchange and store of value in countries where banking services are inadequately supplied and dollars - the global currency - are hard to come by.

Every investment comes with an element of risk and normally the higher the risk the bigger potential gains can be made. However, there are some who are convinced cryptocurrency is the future. John McAfee - the founder of the eponymously named software - is certain that Bitcoin will not only be around for years to come but will be worth considerably more than it is today. He said: "I'll eat my own d**k live on national TV if Bitcoin doesn't surpass $1 million by 2020."

It's hard to ignore a recommendation like that and while the wheel may be turning a little slowly for big companies as they adopt and adapt to the new reality of cryptocurrency - much as they did with social media - it doesn't look like it's going to go away any time soon and unlike big companies grappling with what to do with cryptocurrency there's nothing to stop individuals from making a small investment now if the opportunity is there.

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