Why “End of Bitcoin” News Headlines Are a Positive Sign for the Digital Currency

When you start seeing a lot of Bitcoin news headlines declaring that the digital currency is dead or dying, it can only mean one thing.

Bitcoin prices are bottoming out and will soon start rising.

I'll explain that anomaly shortly, but first we need to take a look at what people have been saying about Bitcoin recently.

Exhibit A is a Sept. 19 post by Izabella Kaminska on the Financial Times' FT Alphaville blog.

Under the headline, "Cult Markets: When the Bubble Bursts" Kaminska compared the Bitcoin price chart to a classic chart of an investing bubble. She also noted that the Bitcoin price had fallen below $400.

And then Kaminska said this: "We're going to stick our neck out at this stage and call this the end of Bitcoin."

That got a lot of attention on Bitcoin message boards, but wasn't the only unusually negative Bitcoin news headline in recent weeks. The drop in the Bitcoin price over the past few months from over $600 to under $400 has given several critics the confidence to declare the imminent death of the cryptocurrency.

On Monday U.S. News & World Report ran a story with the headline, "Should You Steer Clear of Bitcoin?" noting that "this virtual currency has been known to lose as much as 80% of its value in a matter of days."

And the National Journal (a Washington-based magazine published by the same folks that own The Atlantic) chimed in the same day with an article titled "Bitcoin, the Greatest Scam of All Time?"

That story focused on a quote from con artist Frank Abagnale, the inspiration for the film "Catch Me If You can," who told The Atlantic that "Bitcoin is a way to rob people of their life savings."

The National Journal piece likened Abagnale's comments to Warren Buffett's quip earlier this year that Bitcoin is a "mirage," and noted that his "diagnosis of Bitcoin echoes an advisory issued last month by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau."

So, how could all this negative Bitcoin news possibly be a good thing?

For the answer to that, we need to turn to science…