Those who said Bitcoin was a failure in 2016 were proven wrong

Rage Comment : Last year, some technology websites, entrepreneurs, etc. commented that Bitcoin had suffered a failure. However, a closer look at their comments revealed that they were unfounded plagiarism or were exposed by the high Bitcoin price, which aroused the anger of the cryptocurrency community. The development trend of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology is enough to make these inappropriate comments disappear. In 2017, many experts continue to be optimistic about Bitcoin as the main cryptocurrency.

Translation: Annie_Xu

While many people tend to ignore Bitcoin, everyone seems to have an opinion about the popular cryptocurrency. It’s no surprise that quite a few people have argued that Bitcoin has “failed” over the past year. In fact, there have been several statements in the last twelve months that make this argument. Bitcoin may not be perfect, but there’s no reason to hastily conclude that it has, or will, fail.

3. PC AUTHORITY

It’s not uncommon for tech sites to not grasp the fundamentals of Bitcoin in the first place. PC AUTHORITY showed this in June 2016, as the platform published a new thread saying that Bitcoin is like a dead end. In fact, they were saying the same thing as the delusional developer who made a similar statement in January 2016. It seems strange to revisit this topic nearly six months later, but it happens.

In the article, PC AUTHORITY never further explains why they re-stated the developer's words, let alone why they did so 5 months later. It is clear that the article is intended to cash in on the Bitcoin hype, rather than just present something as it is. Interestingly, the article also paints a rosy picture of the future of blockchain technology, even if Bitcoin fails. However, whether these custom non-Bitcoin blockchains can work remains to be seen.

２. Taavet Hinrikus, CEO of TransFerwise

Taavet Hinrikus

It’s clear to everyone in the cryptocurrency space that TransferWise has not lost its enthusiasm for Bitcoin. In fact, one could argue that TransferWise sees Bitcoin as a legitimate threat to its business model because it lowers fees and eliminates middlemen for services like TransferWise. Things started to get out of hand in April 2016 when the company’s CEO, Taavet Hinrikus, said Bitcoin was a dead end.

At the time, Bitcoin was going through a rough patch, even though there wasn’t any reason to believe that the cryptocurrency would suddenly disappear. Hinrikus caused quite a bit of controversy on social media when he said “real people don’t use Bitcoin.” This was something a competing service provider might say, who could sense the craze surrounding Bitcoin. As we all know, throughout 2016, Bitcoin’s value exploded, suggesting Hinrikus was completely wrong.

1. Mike Hearn

Mike Hearn

In early January 2016, a statement made by former Bitcoin developer Mike Hearn went viral. In a campaign coordinated with some of the world’s largest media outlets, he tried to spread the message that Bitcoin was a “failed experiment.” He also announced that he would no longer develop Bitcoin and was no longer loyal to the R3 blockchain consortium. Many Bitcoin enthusiasts were annoyed by this ridiculous statement.

Hearn quickly became persona non grata in the Bitcoin world, as many felt he was trying to drive down the price of Bitcoin by spreading messages through mainstream media. Unfortunately, his words had the opposite effect, as Bitcoin was one of the best performing assets of 2016. Once the media attention died down, Bitcoin returned to normal. Mike Hearn has not been heard from since January 2016.