Emerging from the ashes of a financial crisis, a little-know digital token called bitcoin has grown beyond every investor’s wildest dream to become the best-performing investment asset of the last decade.
The world’s largest digital token closed November, one of its best-performing months this year, at a new record high after breaking the previous all-time high set in December 2017. It has posted gains of more than 10,000,00 percent since July 2010, according to CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) data.
However, it has not always been a rosy ride for those who have invested in bitcoin over the years. Like any other investable asset, it has its highs and lows:
The highs and lows
Charlie Bilello, founder and CEO of Compound Capital Advisor, highlighted Bitcoin’s highest and lowest point each year over the last decade and opening and closing prices. The summary was compiled from CoinDesk data.
The rise, the slowdown and the yo-yo
Created in 2009, bitcoin did not have any price change until July 2010 when the valuation of a bitcoin went from around $0.0008 to $0.08 for a single coin, according to Investopedia. Since then the price saw some major rallies, skyrocketing year-on-year for four consecutive years to reach $758 by the end of 2013, before dipping a bit for two consecutive years and yo-yoing to an all-time high of $19,783 in December 2017.
Surging interest in 2020
The metroic rise of bitcoin looked as if it had lost its fuel after it reached its record high and dropped back to a low of $3,122 in 2018. Surging interest in the digital coin has sent it back up to a new all-time high in November 2020.
Popped champagne and burnt fingers
Bitcoin’s rise-and-rise story is dotted with popped champagne and burnt fingers, while fighting regulatory hurdles across jurisdictions around the world, exchange hacks and scaling stalemates.
‘Digital gold‘
Amid the growing chorus of enthusiasts, activists and investors calling for greater adoption, Bitcoin has been assigned the moniker “digital gold”, as both assets are scare and require “mining” in their respective sense.
‘This time is different’
“Bitcoin really captured that wild technology enthusiasm that ‘this time is different,’” Peter Atwater, the president of Financial Insyghts and an adjunct professor at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia told Bloomberg at the end of 2019.
Potential pull-back
The symphony of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is not over and a potential pull-back has seen some investors begin positioning for a retreat after the recent bull run.
