Bitcoin Tumbles But Will It Recover?

As the world of Bitcoin was celebrating a positive end to 2015, a shock announcement on January 14^th left the Bitcoin news forums in a frenzy and the currency in freefall as it dropped 15% of its’ value in under a day. Today it seems it has been unable to properly recover from the drop, languishing just marginally above where it was this time a fortnight ago at $373 per BTC.

Last year, with the US federal exchange increasing their base rate and announcing plans to continue to do so throughout 2016, and with Oil and Commodity prices in freefall, Bitcoin was being hailed by some as a competent alternative to some of the more traditional and now volatile investment options. However, all it took to unsettle the currency was the resignation of BitcoinJ developer Mike Hearn and an exit speech that referred to the failure of the still-operating network. So just what is next for the unregulated currency and will it be able to recover from its’ early-2016 beating?

Well there seems to be some key-announcements in the news, primarily around the listing of Australian company ‘Bitcoin Group’ which planned to raise 20million AUD in its’ IPO to list on the ASX but fell vastly short, pulling in just under 6million AUD (equivalent to $4.2 million). The second announcement, which has not been realised fully in the currency’s value, is the statement by the European Commission (EC) that it intends to bring an end to virtual currencies being anonymous in an effort to better fight terrorism. While this may seem like an ambitious attempt to gain control over an unregulated network of currencies from BTC to pre-paid credit cards, it is likely to get the backing of most major banks, for whichBitcoin is not a popular choice. While this will certainly have a huge backlash among the currencies users if it ever succeeded, it could also be an opportunity to increase the general public’s accessibility to the currency and create a whole new generation of Bitcoin enthusiasts with increased trust and peace of mind.

In the meantime however, with the Bitcoin Group still happy to have raised enough to meet their targets and execute their planned strategies, and with the commodities and currencies markets still such volatile landscapes for traders and investors alike, Bitcoin is likely to see through this latest round of controversy and make it through the other side better and stronger.