Fourteen years after its creation which marked the birth of the crypto industry, Bitcoin remains the cryptocurrency of choice for a large number of investors and traders. There are now over 9,000 active currencies in existence that one can purchase or sell on exchanges like Binance but people still prefer to buy Bitcoin over other coins. Looking back at its tumultuous history, we can identify a variety of aspects that helped Bitcoin preserve its status as the king of crypto, but all these elements can be synthesized into one single concept: resilience.
Bitcoin can be described in many ways: as a revolutionary technology that changed people’s perception of money and value; an innovation that can help democratize the financial world and offer a solution to the unbanked; a means of circumventing government-imposed capital controls and give power back to people. Bitcoin is all that and more, but it is first and foremost an incredibly resilient asset.
None of the above-mentioned characteristics would have mattered if Bitcoin wouldn’t have been able to weather all the adversities it has been subjected to and adapt to the numerous challenges it has faced in the short time span since it’s been around. There have been multiple occasions in which Bitcoin could have collapsed, and yet it’s still standing, not better than it ever did as the song says, but it’s certainly not throwing in the towel either. So, let’s take a moment to acknowledge and assess Bitcoin’s resilience and all the lessons we can draw from it.
A roller-coaster evolution
Bitcoin’s path was anything but smooth. Ever since its inception in 2009, the coin has gone through several cycles of rise and decline, commonly referred to as bull and bear markets. In the first years of its existence, Bitcoin went largely unnoticed by financial analysts, traders and investors for being nothing more than a peculiar and unremarkable presence confined to the outskirts of the financial system.
Its rollercoaster ride began in 2011 when the asset managed to surpass the psychological mark of $1. Halfway through the year, Bitcoin’s value increased to $32, but just when the project was finally getting the recognition it deserved, it suffered its first major setback in the wake of a cyberattack that affected a major exchange at the time. And so, its price suddenly dropped to $0.01, shattering the hopes of many crypto enthusiasts along the way. For an asset that was just getting on investors’ radar and didn’t have enough time to establish its legitimacy, Bitcoin’s chances of recovering from this unexpected downturn were rather slim.
But as improbable as it was, Bitcoin managed to pull itself out of the ashes, although the process was lengthy and there isn’t much data documenting its evolution during those early years. Nevertheless, in February 2013, Bitcoin got back on track, and in the following months, a new bull run would skyrocket its value to a whopping $1,000. Just as it happened the first time, Bitcoin would enter a period of decline shortly after reaching this new all-time high. By 2015, Bitcoin’s value dropped to $170. However, this was already Bitcoins’ second bear market, so traders and investors were less apprehensive about it.
The crypto winter extended well into the second half of 2015, when the first signs of recovery appeared on the horizon and things finally started to take a turn for the better. The next bull run took Bitcoin back to its previous high of $1,000 by January 2017 and continued to pump its value over the following months, with the year-end price reaching $20,000.
By now, everybody knew the drill: each bull market was succeeded by a price correction that would lead to a new bear run. And so it happened that the crypto winter debuted in 2018 and chilled the entire market for the next couple of years, causing Bitcoin’s price to plummet to approximately $3,200.
As expected, the unfortunate events that took place during this period were soon forgotten when Bitcoin got on an upward slope again, the steepest one yet, that would lead to its latest all-time high of $63,000 which was recorded in November 2021. Obviously, the already-expected decline was just as steep as the climb, given that Bitcoin fell from unprecedented highs. In the timespan of just a few months, Bitcoin lost more than 50% of its value, ending 2022 at around $16,900. Things were exacerbated by a series of bankruptcies, scams and scandals that cast a negative light on the cryptocurrency market, causing traders and investors to lose their trust in Bitcoin and all the other coins. By all accounts, 2022 was a historical year for Bitcoin and the crypto market as a whole for all the wrong reasons.
Bitcoin outlook for 2023 and beyond
So, where did the last crypto winter leave Bitcoin? Many experts predicted that this crash would spell the end of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency industry. More than a few crypto projects vanished from the map in one fell swoop, so it wasn’t such an implausible theory to consider. It definitely wasn’t easy for crypto enthusiasts and Bitcoin supporters, in particular, to watch the crypto world meltdown in front of their eyes.
However, 2023 started on a much positive note for Bitcoin and many of the altcoins alike. Bitcoin entered an upward trend since the beginning of the year, with its price jumping over 60% year-to-date. The asset might be far from its former all-time high, but the recent price appreciation can only mean one thing: Bitcoin has once again proved its resilience. Despite suffering a cruel crash, the crypto king is nowhere near its end. On the contrary, experts predict that a new bull run might be just around the corner.
Given its core characteristics including decentralization, transparency, accessibility, self-custody and the potential for outsized returns, Bitcoin has all the necessary data to pick up again and thrive in the future, so we’re looking forward to analyzing its evolution.
