So far the main topic of 2017 is the cryptocurrency hype. Rates of Bitcoin and Ethereum have surged several times and the newbie miners started to buy video cards used to mine cryptocurrencies. CEO of Grand Capital Stanislav Vaneev gave an interview to Finance Magnates on the "hot" topic, shared his thoughts on why cryptocurrencies became so popular and estimated their potential.
Bitcoin has been rising since the moment it was created. In the 9-year history of its existence, it has gone up from $0,003 per 1000 BTC to $2700 per 1 BTC. And here comes the question: what are the grounds for such strong dynamics? Is there a limit to its growth? Will it bounce back at some point?
Let’s begin with the fact that Bitcoin initially was created as an alternative to the regulated currencies and it quite naturally found its use in certain niches.
For example, let’s look at the big and wealthy China, the country of huge amounts of money, developing businesses and, at the same time, strong government control over financial transactions. How is the shadow economy supposed to survive? How to avoid paying taxes? In China, cryptocurrencies are successfully used for this kind of purposes.
As a matter of fact, we develop Bitcoin integration solutions for Chinese Forex brokers. Now there are around 3 000 brokers in China that provide Forex and Binary Options trading services. Nevertheless, Forex is not completely legal in China and for that reason, many brokers may take an interest in Bitcoin transactions.
As per the Bitcoin rate surge, there is an opinion that Bitcoin develops following the pyramid pattern, which means that it will continue rising as long as it is convenient for everyone, but sooner or later it will start bouncing back, as the currency is not backed by anything. As a result, the investors will turn to other cryptocurrencies, for example, Ethereum.
Ethereum is also gaining popularity. Will it be able to catch up with Bitcoin?
Judging by the dynamics, it can happen in the near future. Ethereum is 7 years younger than Bitcoin — it only appeared in 2015, but for the past several months it has jumped to the second place among other cryptocurrencies in terms of trading volumes. To a large extent, it has to do with the fact that the Ethereum has considered and corrected the main drawbacks Bitcoin is criticized for. For instance, Ethereum offers shorter transaction times.
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