Bitcoin is one of the biggest winners in 2015

Gold prices are down nearly 10% this year, major U.S. stock indexes are roughly flat, and energy commodities are down more than 30%: It’s been another tough year for investors. While individual stocks have performed well, perhaps the best performing asset this year has been the non-stock asset, the favorite of crypto-anarchists: Bitcoin.

Bitcoin, a digital currency that many supporters see as a potential alternative to the global monetary system, has gained about 37 percent against the dollar since the beginning of the year. It started the year at about $313 and is now around $430, according to CoinDesk's composite price index.

Bitcoin prices have also experienced a difficult journey to achieve their current growth: in mid-January 2015, the price of Bitcoin fell below $175, and then fluctuated. After several twists and turns, it began to rise in early October.

There are many different opinions on the reasons for the sharp increase in Bitcoin prices in the past three months, and it is difficult to reach a conclusion.

Digital ecosystem observers told CNBC that the 70% monthly peak may have been driven by various positive news, such as the launch of the Winklevoss brothers' Gemini exchange, and the investment of digital currency groups by industry giants such as Mastercard and New York Life. Some people also believe that this may be related to the fear of missing out on the opportunity of many speculators.

Brendan O'Connor, CEO of Genesis Global Trading, a bitcoin trading company, believes that bitcoin's year-end outperformance may be the result of a series of positive trends. In addition, O'Connor believes that the efforts of some bitcoin startups to help promote the bitcoin and blockchain industry towards compliance have led to more institutional investors willing to put money into digital currencies and over-the-counter bitcoin investment trusts.

O’Connor said that financial institutions often come to him to learn how to trade Bitcoin:

“They are looking for investments in non-correlated asset classes, and I think bitcoin is still largely viewed as a speculative asset, but their willingness to test the waters in this space is increasing significantly.”

Another important trend in the field this year is the growing interest of financial institutions in blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin. O'Connor said they are attracted by the huge potential of blockchain technology in remittances and payments.

This summer's Greek crisis has brought discussions around Bitcoin to a climax. Many Bitcoin supporters and even economic observers believe that Bitcoin can be a way out for Greece to escape the crisis. Some people even boldly predict that the Greek government will adopt Bitcoin as its national currency and list the various benefits of using Bitcoin as its national currency. However, these are only hypothetical. However, investors believe that this trend of discussion has at least spread the concept of Bitcoin and aroused people's potential awareness of Bitcoin.

Economist Tuur Demeester, editor-in-chief of a bitcoin research institute, said bitcoin prices had experienced a "long winter" from a high of $1,150 at the end of 2013 to $200 in January this year. The sharp drop from the peak was also the result of the bursting of the "price bubble" in 2013 (the collapse of Mt. Gox was also one of the reasons), and bitcoin prices remained depressed for a long time afterwards, probably because companies were over-leveraged and sold a lot of bitcoins.

Demeester is bullish on Bitcoin’s development in 2016, with new investors seeking appropriate market valuations.

He said, “It will be interesting to see how Bitcoin performs next year.”

Original text: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/29/bitcoin-is-one-of-2015s-biggest-winners.html
By Everett Rosenfeld
Compiled by: printemps
Source (translation): Babbitt Information