Bitcoin Price Prediction: Regulations Are a Blessing in Disguise for Bitcoin
Daily Bitcoin News Update
Following in the footsteps of its northern neighbor, Mexico is crafting regulations for cryptocurrencies. The Mexican Congress passed a bill four days ago, which now awaits the president’s final signature to go into effect. With this, Mexico joins the growing list of countries undertaking crypto regulations—a trend that, we believe, plays in favor of Bitcoin rather than against it.
Let me explain.
Exchange hacks and cryptocurrency heists have seen an unprecedented rise in the recent months, and as hundreds of millions get lost in these digital robberies, investors are turning wary of crypto investing.
Productive regulations may pave the way for the revival of investor spirits. There’s evidence that supports that regulations may, in fact, be healthy for crypto markets.
Take the example of the largest cryptocurrency coin heist in history, the Coincheck hack, which took place in January this year. The Coincheck heist resulted in $530.0 million’s worth of NEM coins being stolen from the Japanese exchange.
The hack significantly hurt investor confidence in crypto investing, forcing major Japanese exchanges to join hands and create a self-regulatory body. Their self-imposed internal regulations will ensure that such incidents don’t recur.
Regulations, in this case, are actually helping restore investor faith in cryptocurrencies.
Something similar was witnessed in February’s U.S. Senate hearing on cryptocurrencies, when the financial watchdogs struck a balanced tone on cryptocurrency regulations. Again, it was regulators who helped reinvigorate investor trust in crypto investing after the great crypto crash of January.
We strongly believe that the fear of regulations has been overblown. Investors often ignore the flip side of the coin. In the absence of regulations, the crypto markets are more like the Wild West. If an investor is robbed of his coins, he has no recourse to get back the lost funds.
On top of that, in the absence of regulatory oversight, choosing crypto investments is left to the whims of investors who sometimes have little to no technical know-how.
This is why regulators like “crypto-dad” Chris Giancarlo—the Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), who has been hailed as a hero in the crypto community—continue to urge investors to “do their own research” before investing in cryptocurrencies.
My point is that regulations make the environment conducive to safe investing, in turn attracting new investors who’ve so far watched this space from afar.
The regulations may likewise help curb acts of money laundering and illicit trading, similar to the South Korean crypto regulations introduced earlier this year, which have largely been fruitful.
So we’re embracing regulations with open arms.
Chart courtesy of TradingView.com
Bitcoin prices are once again making their way toward the bygone all-time highs. The BTC to USD rate is up more than 2.14% in the past 24 hours. At the time of writing, one bitcoin was trading for around $11,531.
Analyst Take
Recent incidents of coin thefts have proven that regulations may, in fact, be a blessing in disguise for Bitcoin. Regulations bolster an average investor’s faith in cryptocurrency investing, encouraging him to engage in it.
As one after another country moves forward to present productive regulations for Bitcoin investing, we forecast new buyers to move into this space. In a nutshell, regulations don’t hurt our Bitcoin price prediction. Rather, they reinforce it. Our BTC price target for 2018 holds strong at $15,000.
