2020 In Review: The Year For Bitcoin

Watching Bitcoin (BTC) move toward another all-time high is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s astonishing to watch the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization stabilize in excess of $500B but on the other hand new all-time highs are the rule these days, not the exception. You begin to hope the price continues to rise indefinitely, watching the ticker, but part of your mind realizes how impractical that would be and pushes back. At the global scale, the same sort of process repeats itself in the minds of millions of people who, whether or not they actually own Bitcoin, feel it’s the future. As the bull rally continues, it’s important to recognize that no rally can last forever. This article will take stock of a few of the most important moments in 2020, my first year as a cryptocurrency trader.

1. January 2020 is projected to be rough for stocks… and good for Bitcoin.

Bitcoin surged during the early part of 2020, from about $7,000 to about $10,000 by Valentine’s day, and this movement drew attention to so-called altcoins to set off the “altcoin spring” of 2020, in which many tokens including Tezos and Ethereum experienced breakouts and price surges.

2. March 9, 2020: Black Monday

The stock markets dipped, true, but Bitcoin also veered downward from a height of over $10,000 to a low of under $4,000. The event was v-shaped, but it gave rise to my most successful trade of all time and represented major opportunity for recovering cryptocurrency assets, drawing increasing interest in these markets and highlighting the remarkable adaptability of digital networks in times of limited face-to-face interaction.

3. May 8, 2020—Ongoing: The US Riots

After the wrongful death of George Floyd at the hands of police who were not charged, protests and riots broke out for weeks around the nation. Over 14,000 people were arrested between May 8 and June 27, 2020. Around this time, the meteoric ascent of Decentralized Finance algorithms took place, perhaps as a message to bankers who had previously believed their industry to be untouchable. It’s of course also likely that the DeFi revolution took place against a backdrop of nationwide protests by sheer coincidence, but the spirit of the moment was perhaps a stronger reaction against the misuses of authority than any other in recent memory.

The Wikipedia page for 2020 United States racial unrest still lists these events as ongoing, though of course they’ve tapered off almost completely even if they haven’t ceased entirely yet. Significantly, the interests represented at the protests mirror those of the blockchain communities whose market caps grew by millions over this time period.

4. August, 2020: Summer Surge Peaks

Bullish news of vaccines and a compelling Biden lead in the polls led to a bevy of new all-time highs in the altcoin market even as Bitcoin surged to a point just north of $12,000. The altcoin market suffered through September, but Bitcoin stayed strong and appeared healthy heading into the November rally that has raised the cryptocurrency’s all-time high $10,000 and shows no signs of slowing.

2021 And Beyond: What’s Next?

It strikes me that Bitcoin is very likely to see the peaks continue, just as opinions continue to be less than convincing. However, the evidence doesn’t seem to support any hypothesis we might venture that the end of the rally could be near. Still, there’s chaos around every corner as the politics of vaccine distribution becomes the loudest discussion in the US. Whatever comes next, the most likely outcome is that we’ll be surprised by it.

Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash