On the whole, 2019 was a solid year for bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency industry. The most obvious piece of news to excite crypto fans was the steady increase in market value. Bitcoin’s price started the year at $3,600, peaked around $12,000 and finished up on $7,200. A 100% increase in in 12 months was a nice way to end the year. The good news for those with a few coins stashed away is that there several events that could have a significant effect on bitcoins value in 2020. We’ll take a look at those as well as a few growth industries to keep an eye on.
The halvening
On May 12, bitcoin will experience another halvening. At the moment bitcoin miners receive 12.5 BTC for each new added to the chain. The halving effect programmed into the code means that amount will drop to 6.25 BTC. This effect occurs every 210,000 new blocks with the last halvening taking place in June 2016. Back then bitcoin was worth around $600, and the interest just wasn’t what it is today. While some people think that this event is priced into bitcoin’s current value, others think that the sharp reminder of Bitcoin’s finite supply could jack up the price. Either way, May is one for investors to look out for.
Will Facebook’s Libra drop?
New coins are launched all the time without generating so much as a ripple. One that could potentially shake up the whole crypto industry is Libra. With the titanic backing of its parent company Facebook and its billion+ users, some think it could threaten bitcoin’s status as the number one crypto. Will it hit wallets and exchanges in 2020? That is the big question. While the motto at Facebook might be ‘move fast and break things’, an election year in the US might be a little too volatile and push the release date back. Time will tell.
New opportunities
Bitcoin’s popularity is growing, and so are the ways that people are choosing to spend it. Here are a few of the many new big and small names who will be happy to accept your BTC or goods or services in 2020.
- Travel – TravelbyBit, CheapBizClass, Air Baltic.
- Food – Bee Bros, Nothing Fishy, KFC Canada.
- Gambling – DuckDice, Sportsbet, Rocketpot.io.
- Clothing – BitcoinShirt, Hipptee, ShirtWasCash.
- Electronics – FastTech, MSPinc, Microsoft.
There are some big bitcoin gambling names there, and the list of companies happy to accept BTC is growing daily. As its adoption grows, so does its demand which should push up the price. Will 2020 be the big breakthrough into the mainstream many are predicting?
China’s state-backed digital currency
Along with fighting a protracted trade way, China is looking at rolling out a digital yuan. With Libra, this development has the potential to draw an enormous amount of people into the crypto trading space. So far, the government has experimented with digital currency electronic payments which would prove a handy way to monitor people’s spending. With the trade war pushing China to seek out new trading partners and agreements, a new digital currency would go far in shoring up its domestic and international economic interests.
Conclusion
2019 was a top-performing year for the crypto industry. Yes, the price was fairly volatile across the board, but on the whole many coins saw steady increases in value. Crucially, that included bitcoin which has by far the largest share of the market. The great thing for investors is that signs are positive for another standout year. This is due to major players entering, or planning to enter, the crypto space. On top is the increase in the many new and exciting companies accepting crypto in place of traditional fiat. Slap on your shades bitcoin fans, things are looking bright for the world’s most popular crypto in 2020.