For as long as cryptocurrency has existed, we've seen countless news articles claiming the "death" of Bitcoin.
What these experts don't tell you is that they've predicted Bitcoin's demise over 200 times in the past five years. The first mainstream media article like this was back in January 2011, when Forbes published an article titled "So that's the death of Bitcoin then." The Huffington Post even called Bitcoin a "hoax" at the time.
Today, there are so many obituaries for Bitcoin that there's even a website dedicated to them. You can check out https://99bitcoins.com/obituary-stats/generously, which lists 245 different predictions about Bitcoin's end. Some of these predictions even go back to 2010, and as you can see, those who predicted the end have been wrong time and time again.
Bitcoin has already overcome several major challenges. It weathered a 68% drop in value in mid-2011, the Mt. Gox exchange hacks in 2014, and the misinterpreted rumors of China banning cryptocurrency in 2017.
Mainstream adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has been growing year after year. In fact, at the beginning of 2018, there were less than 10 countries worldwide that did not recognize Bitcoin as having value—though this doesn't necessarily mean that Bitcoin transactions are legal in those countries.
So why do so many news outlets keep predicting Bitcoin's downfall?
The main reason is that most mainstream news organizations have little to no experience with cryptocurrency. Even their financial reporters are outsiders when it comes to blockchain technology and its potential impact. This includes traditional stock market analysts, many of whom know as little about this new asset class as the average investor.
One big reason for this is that Bitcoin operates on a decentralized financial model, which challenges the traditional banking system.
As a result, the voices of this system, which has made them significant profits, often speak out against anything they see as a threat to their current structure. One of the most vocal critics of Bitcoin has been Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase. He once called Bitcoin a "fraud" and "worse than tulip bulbs." He even threatened to fire any employees who traded Bitcoin.
It wasn't until around mid-2017 that we started seeing some level of institutional adoption of cryptocurrency.
This is because banks and big financial institutions have found ways to profit from cryptocurrencies themselves.
However, as we saw in early 2018, banks would prefer to buy at a lower price, which has contributed to the drop in cryptocurrency prices during that time. I'll be explaining this in more detail later in the book, but I believe these "death of Bitcoin" predictions will become less common as we move forward.