Jan. 3, 2019 marked the 10th anniversary of the first bitcoin block that was mined by Satoshi, giving birth to the notion that a digitized, anonymized currency sent over a permission-less, distributed ledger could democratize how money would move between people and parties around the world.
Some people believe it is an event worth celebrating: You’re invited to join us to celebrate “Bitcoin at 10!” … was the headline of a message received by your editor the other day from CoinDesk. Accordingly the organizers stated the following: “Ten years ago, an idea that was set out in a white paper went live—sparking a debate about the nature of money that continues to this day. We’ve hung around through some awe-inspiring ups and gnarly downs, but ultimately we still believe in the blockchain – just like you. And to celebrate that decade of growth, CoinDesk is throwing a bitcoin birthday party on January 9, 2019, which is when the genesis block was first mined. Together with Coindesk reporters, editors and loyal community members, we’ll mark the special occasion with drinks, a product launch, special guests for an exclusive edition of CoinDesk LIVE and more!”
The reality however appears to be different: There is nothing to celebrate about. If you follow the most recent commentary not all is well with Bitcoin. “2018 has not been great for crypto prices. Bitcoin is down more than 80 percent, ethereum is down more than 90 percent, and the market overall has shed hundreds of billions (with a b) of dollars in the last 11 months. And yet, even as startups lay off staffers, reduce funding or shut down entirely, capital is flowing into the space and firms are moving forward with their projects.” If you ask me the cryptocurrency Bitcoin has been a failure.
10 Years of Smoke and Mirrors was the headline of an article by Karen Webster of Pymnts.com. Based on her article there is really no cause to celebrate. She stated: “While bitcoin and crypto garner the headlines, innovators are taking the best of distributed, permissioned, secure and private ledger tech, and digitizing assets issued by regulated financial services companies and governments to clear and settle transactions in near real time, globally, at scale. And they are doing it within the existing, secure and regulated environments, using the fiat currencies of the endpoints in between those transactions.”
Plain facts: Bitcoin enthusiasts are still banking on Bitcoin’s distributed ledger technology (DLT) to succeed with Blockchain. Karen Webster said: “Investments in blockchain tech are positively puny. It’s been reported that investments in blockchain and blockchain tech by the enterprise, worldwide, are expected to reach a whole $2.1 billion in 2018 — twice as much as in 2017. Investments in cybersecurity measures, by comparison, are expected to reach nearly $97 billion this year”.
Source: BIIA Research
