Bitcoin (BTC) price started to rebound today after breaking below $33,000 yesterday. This is following a massive drop from the $68,789.63 all time high seen in November. Some investors are fearing a "crypto winter" across the entire crypto market.
What Is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a new form of digital money created in 2009. It consists of a decentralized ledger that records all transactions since it's inception. The protocol's rules for verifying transactions and issuing bitcoin (the currency) are secured by a global network of "nodes" and "miners". Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million and each consists of 100,000,000 "satoshis", meaning you can buy a fraction of a bitcoin.
Why Are Investors Interested in Bitcoin?
While Bitcoin's extreme volatility deters many, long term investors may still be drawn to the technology's fundamentals. The 21 million fixed supply, the ability to transact peer-to-peer without a third party, the growth of the bitcoin mining industry, and advancements in "layer 2"" technologies like the Lightning Network continue regardless of extreme price movement.
Last week, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) announced it was entering the mining space with “ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient bitcoin mining ASIC”. And Google announced a partnership with Coinbase and Bitpay for digital cards that might soon allow users to hold bitcoin and spend fiat. With headlines like these, investors looking to hold bitcoin long term may not be phased by the current "crypto winter". After all, Bitcoin has "died" many times in it's past only to recover.
Bitcoin Is Only the Beginning
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