What a Change: 2 Years Ago in Cryptocurrency – Hulki Okan Tabak
I was going through my bookmarked stories on the Medium, casually wondering what I had read over couple of years. I came across a story by DK and recalled that I hardly read anything from him. I got to his page and there he was quite inactive during 2019. I scrolled down to see what he had written and stumbled upon his December 2017 story titled Observations on the Cryptobubble https://medium.com/@dennyk/observations-on-the-cryptobubble-and-Bitcoin-price-prediction-update-acf38b44cd35 in which he shared a chart from coinmarketcap.com which essentially had the information I summarized as below:
The list seemed strange to me, some names I could not recall and except for Bitcoin, the valuations seemed off. So I decided to compare one by one the change that happened over the 2 year period. Please keep in the mind December 2017 was the top of the bubble and any comparison should bear that in mind.
Number 10: IOTA
Starting with the last one, IOTA is not the worst performer of the group but it has lost over 94% of its value in 2 years.
Number 9: Litecoin
Litecoin along with Ethereum has been relatively strong performers with losing only around 80% of their value.
Number 8: Cardano
Cardano has lost 95% of its value.
Number 7: Stellar
Stellar has lost 97% of its value.
Number 6: Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin Cash has lost 91% of its value.
Number 5: ATMCoin
ATMCoin does not exist anymore.
Number 4: SolarCoin
SolarCoin has practically gone out of business.
Number 3: Ethereum
Ethereum along with Litecoin has been relatively strong performers with losing only around 80% of their value.
Number 2: Bitcoin
Bitcoin has lost a little compared to the size of the bubble. However, this observation masks the fact that Bitcoin had also lost over 80% of its value before recovering to 38% loss as of now. As it stands, the recovery potential of Bitcoin was clearly different from all other major coins.
Number 1: Ripple
Ripple has lost 96% of its value and yet still remains in the 2019 Top 10 list.
Full List of Top Coins in 2017 (and where they are in 2019):
Below you can see the table and the corresponding chart that illustrates the whole picture. Simply put there has been massive correction from the top of the bubble and all crypto assets were hit hard with Bitcoin ending up to be significantly more resilient than the rest. Please note the wipeout from the top is close to USD 600 billion and that loss figure was even higher when during 1Q19 when Bitcoin fell to USD 3000.
Top 10 List for 2017 vs 2019’s Top 10:
2019 Top 10 List is 77% lower than 2017 Top 10 List. If Bitcoin is excluded, it is 93% lower. Clearly there has been a massive correction and the attitude towards altcoins is considerably more defensive.
Observations, Conclusions and Questions:
· 2 of the 2017 Top 10 List have virtually gone out of business.
· 5 of the 2017 Top 10 List has lost over 90% of their value.
· 2 of the 2017 Top 10 List has lost over 75% of their value.
· 1 of the 2017 Top 10 List has only lost 38% of its value.
· The 2 year time tunnel underscores a big bubble at the end of 2017.
· However why has Bitcoin retained most of its value? What are the factors that enable this positive divergence? Are these factors sustainable?
· What is different with Ethereum and Litecoin that have enabled them to retain relatively higher values? How much of this is due to actual usage (rather than market forces)? How do they stack up against the 2019 Top 10 List?
· With Tether in the 2019 Top 10 List, should we expect stable coins to have more of an impact in the cryptocurrency space going forward? If so, what characteristics make a competitive stable coin?
· With the Top 10 list down by 77% in total and over 90% without Bitcoin, does the future hold meaningful appreciation potential or a lackluster long term performance?
December 24, 2019
Published at Mon, 23 Dec 2019 23:45:34 +0000
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