Bitcoin has been going through a somewhat rough period recently, which is all the more apparent in the aftermath of the new all-time highs in March. Investors have seen the prices drop amid widespread corrections, but the general belief is that it is worth it to remain optimistic and believe in the coin’s ability to change and continue growing. Many have started to buy Bitcoin p2p as values are expected to continue climbing in the upcoming months, by which point trading will become unsustainable for most investors. It is also the most basic trading strategy to buy low and sell high.
As always, market movements and changes remain highly important, and you need to stay aware of them to build a comprehensive and robust strategy. Here are some of the news that are likely to affect the Bitcoin landscape throughout 2024.
Stablecoins
The idea of stablecoins coming to the Bitcoin blockchain was not a thing many investors would have even considered a few months ago, but it seems now that it is closer than ever to becoming reality. The taproot upgrade of late 2021 will be used to bring the assets to the blockchain, and the CEO of a reputable software development company recently provided extra insights and explanation regarding the technology during a global event conference to an audience representing some of the biggest traditional finance companies in the world.
Developers have been working toward bringing stablecoins to users as quickly as possible, and transactions have already been tested. Part of the early code was released in October 2023, with the idea of getting crypto dollars and other stablecoins directly on the network. Similar to Bitcoin itself, the stablecoin will also be able to serve as a store of value, with researchers estimating that people residing in countries that are currently struggling with very steep inflation levels or fiat devaluation are likely to be among the earliest adopters.
Advantages
Stablecoin adoption has been on the rise since the beginning of the pandemic, as a growing number of investors began placing their trust in the assets. While there are users who are focused solely on Bitcoin or stablecoins, there’s also a growing number of addresses that make use of both. The largest stablecoins in the world, Circle and Tether, hold more US Treasury bonds than South Korea and Germany, an interesting thing considering the users themselves don’t benefit from holding the stablecoins.
The assets set to arrive in the Bitcoin environment are also considered to be superior to the alternatives. This shouldn’t be surprising because BTC is regarded as the most reliable and trustworthy cryptocurrency, with the highest ability to retain its value no matter how much time passes and how many corrections intervene along the way. The expectation is that the choice to bring stablecoins to Bitcoin will signify the beginning of a new industry and that this is merely the creation of the infrastructure that will power it in the future.
Financial institutions could use it in the future for gold issuance and other fiat-based assets, including various stablecoins. There’s also the issue of costs, as traditional institutions come with fees that can amount to roughly 3% of the total amount. The transactions made with stablecoins will be significantly lower, which is in line with the lower costs associated with the cryptocurrency market as a whole. For the stablecoins, you might not need to pay more than a few cents, if not less than that. Naturally, this means that the likelihood and number of international transactions will increase as geolocation is no longer a concern.
Meal boxes
A South Korean convenience store chain has launched a campaign with a local crypto exchange with the aim of introducing a Bitcoin meal box that is available for purchase in the stores. According to the official statement, customers will be fighting over roughly 30,000 meal boxes that will remain available until the end of May, and the price of a box is 5,900 won, or $4.30. The exchange will also offer 10,000 won worth of BTC to customers who download the exchange’s application and enter a coupon number.
Currently, this exchange is a market leader in South Korea and a member of the DAXA, the Digital Asset Exchange Association. Back in November 2023, it announced that it planned to become the first platform of its kind to be listed on the South Korean stock market, an ambitious goal that has nonetheless been delayed until this point. Yet, this doesn’t mean that it will never happen, and it seems that the general public has been considerably hyped by the meal box announcement, especially given that investors remain in high spirits following the halving.
Official figures show that over 6 million people use and trade crypto in South Korea, representing roughly 10% of the population. Nonetheless, regulatory pressures have intensified over the past couple of years, and legislators introduced harsher repercussions for those guilty of crypto-related crimes and updated guidelines for exchanges. Regulators have also appealed to members of the general public, urging traders to report the presence of unlicensed exchanges that offer crypto services in South Korea.
$60K
At the beginning of May, traders experienced massive liquidations, with the figures showing numbers up to $160 million as the price returned to the lower level recorded in February. Additional data indicates that there was $470 million in liquidations in the span of twenty-four hours, with $120 million coming from Ethereum. The BTC/USD pair also took a blow, with April being its worst month since the 2022 bear market, during which a significant portion of Bitcoin’s value was lost, and some investors were forced to abandon their portfolios altogether to mitigate further losses.
Although the Bitcoin marketplace enjoyed a period of considerable growth at the beginning of the year, culminating in the new all-time highs of March, a slump soon followed. In spite of the ETF approval and the halving, investors should remain attentive and rely on their strategies to see revenue. As the popularity of cryptocurrencies continues to grow among the general public and the regulatory landscape gets clearer, Bitcoin is undoubtedly set for growth.