The crypto industry has always been very unique when it comes to the type of people it attracts; from everyday “grey suits” to full blown rockstars. 2017 on the other hand, took things to a new level of insanity. We even had a range of Hollywood celebs jump on the “block train” heading for the “Crypto Wild West.” When the words “Blockchain” came out of Paris Hilton’s mouth, it was probably the first sign that crypto was garnering an entirely new type of attention. Some of us weren’t paying any mind to it. In stead, we were all too busy looking for the latest ICO to throw our money at. “When lambo?” and “When moon?” became the common thread in most Telegram channels, to such an extent that many admins had pinned messages saying you would be banned if you blurted out anything related to any lambo or any moon.
The second sign that something was very different this time around (Dec 2017) became clear when long lost family members and friends, who never showed interest in you before, showed a renewed interest in your persona and hit you with an often-heard;
So this crypto thing right…………. I want to get in
All About The Hype
Essentially, the 2017 market consisted of far too many people looking to make quick and easy money; people with no knowledge of the industry nor the underlying technology. People willing to part with their money without doing any due diligence, simply because they had bought into the hype. Multiple ICOs were being launched on a daily basis. Many raised millions with a questionable white paper, an underaverage looking website and an idea or concept that consisted predominantly of buzzwords. These projects were aware that the market was immature and it that it wouldn’t take much to convince people to invest in them. Lots of projects ended up being exit scams or projects that never actually built anything (any real world product) apart from having created a token that could be traded on an exchange, in an ever-decreasing amount of volume. When the market took a turn for the bearish and it all started to crumble, the most significant victims were the newcomers who were naively looking to make a quick buck. From maxed out credit cards to vaporized funds, it was an all-out drama. Once it eventually dawned on these users that the projects they invested in were exit scams or doomed to fail, they went running for the hills screaming about the crypto market being one big scam.
A New Dawn
Fast forward to present day, the market has matured considerably. Projects need a lot more than a decent idea, a whitepaper and good looking website to raise funds. Investors are no longer that naive; they have matured with the market and most tend to conduct infinite and audited due diligence before investing their funds. Most newcomers in the market are sticking to investing in established cryptocurrencies and are steering clear from unaudited, dodgy start-ups with promises that are simply “too good to be true.” Besides all of the rugpulls obviously.
Bitcoin has more than doubled since its previous all time high and once again major media outlets are starting to spread the cryptocurrency gospel. Yet, it’s not at all as hyped up as it was in 2017 and the conversations have an overall serious tone.
The current bull market is a completely different bull. Unlike before, we have large scale institutional investors pouring their cash allocation into the market with companies such as PayPal making sure they don’t get left behind.
Regulatory Heaven Awaits
Most governments around the world are taking a serious look at how to implement regulations that would give them some level of control to curb financial misconduct. They have started to ask “How do we find a way to work with cryptocurrency projects while having some regulation in place?” instead of “How do we ban cryptocurrency?.” This is a huge step in the right direction, indeed. Of course this doesn’t apply to all currencies as the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) has recently attempted to go after XRP. With a court case between the SEC and Ripple looming, both parties are showing no sign of backing down. Only time will tell how it will play out. But a desire to create clarity in the “Wild West” is a bullish sign for overall adoption.
From MOE to SOV
In 2017, apart from the ICO hype, Bitcoin was consistently viewed as a potential currency. One that would hypothetically be able to facilitate everyday usage as a means of exchange, such as being able to pay for your meal at a drive through. That narrative has changed. Most people are now joining the store of value narrative more than anything else.
As much as the 2020 market was distinctly different from 2017, there were a few similarities as well. During the 2017 FOMO frenzy, many exchanges simply couldn’t cope with the volumes. Large exchanges crashed frequently. Out of desperation some even had to put their new user signups on hold as they couldn’t cope. One would expect these exchanges to be better prepared this time around but it seems most of the top-tier exchanges are yet again battling to cope with traffic volumes.
Life Is Good At Gate.io
At Gate.io we are proud to say that despite all the massive ATHs recently, as well as the increased volume all around, we are still very much up and running. We succeed where many other exchanges don’t. We did not experience any downtime and all our users were able trade hassle free.
Established in 2013, we are one of the most trusted exchanges around. Our core principles are integrity, transparency, and fairness. Unlike our competitors, we charge zero listing fees because we only list high quality projects that have been properly and intricately vetted by our team. We offer a full suite of trading products, including ETFs, options, futures, HODL & Earn and low interest crypto loans.
Isn’t it about time you gave us a try?
