Bitcoin prices just hit an all-time record high of $4,800 before settling into a range just above $4,700. But because of the rapid rise of the cryptocurrency, several analysts in the mainstream media conglomerates are announcing calls of a bitcoin bubble. As David Ader, chief macro strategist at Informa Financial Intelligence put it, “This looks like an overly frothy market and frothy markets lose their froth.”
Certainly, the profitability magnitude is something to behold. Less than a month ago, cryptocurrency advocates were nervously eyeing the bitcoin hardfork — the dreaded split of the blockchain asset into two distinct currencies. Just prior to the event, bitcoin prices dipped ever-so-briefly below the $2,000 mark. Against the time of writing rate, the cryptocurrency just snagged a 150% move.
But are we really facing a bitcoin bubble? True, bitcoin prices are in the stratosphere. At the same time, cryptocurrency integration is at an all-time high as well. Ethereum is also approaching its prior record levels. And let’s not forget litecoin, which jumped to nearly $75 at last count.
The integration dynamic is one of the critical counterarguments against the idea of the bitcoin bubble. Some forwarded the idea that the blockchain markets are similar to the notorious tulip mania of centuries ago. Yet the analogy falls apart because that historical incident focused solely on one “asset.” In the case of the cryptocurrency markets, several other digital coins besides bitcoin are moving decidedly higher.
Still, several mainstream pundits disparage the bitcoin bubble as nothing more than another tech speculation of the late 1990s, or the housing and financial crisis of the late 2000s.
It would take a considerable amount of time and space to dissect every reason why stories about the bitcoin bubble are fallacious and misleading. But one of my critical arguments — and Yahoo News will publish my perspective shortly — is that bitcoin is traded on an accelerated platform.
Normal trading doesn’t take up the entire 24-hour cycle. In fact, it only takes up 6.5 hours (Wall Street opens at 9:30am EST and closes at 4:00pm EST). Bitcoin prices, on the other hand, are broadcast throughout the entire day. Thus, after a one-year period, bitcoin and other cryptocurrency assets have traded for 8,760 hours (365 days x 24 hours).
On the flipside, Wall Street has only traded for 1,625 hours (approximately 250 business days x 6.5 hours). Thus, one year of “bitcoin time” is the equivalent of 5.4 years of “Wall Street” time (8,760 hours / 1,625 hours). In two years time, bitcoin has already experienced more than a decade’s worth of trading!
My accelerated platform argument is absolutely essential to understand the nature of blockchain assets. When looked at in the proper perspective, we can see that rather than a bitcoin bubble, cryptocurrencies are simply enjoying robust, open-source trading!