Last week our theme was “Initial Exchange Offerings: 2019 is the year of the IEO.“ Our theme for this week is “Bitcoin going parabolic. ALT Season Here”
TLDR. Its been an extraordinary week. Binance was hacked for $40 million worth of cryptocurrency. Warren Buffett bashed Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Bitcoin broke $7500. The negative news didn’t seem to affect the bull run. You can expected that this rally won’t be stopping any time soon. In the first quarter of the year, several altcoins doubled in value. While the performance of altcoins have been very positive, alt season is not here yet, its almost here.
The past couple of days have been exceptional. Bitcoin broke all expectations, with its price going vertical. It jumped from $5,700 to $7,500, rising by 30% since last week.
As Bitcoin continues to rise, the top 10 altcoins also turned green with Ethereum up 18%, Bitcoin Cash 22%, Litecoin 16%, EOS 10% and Stellar 3.7%.
Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency, and it’s still the leading cryptocurrency in every aspect. In the past, I’ve read and heard crypto enthusiasts say, that eventually an altcoin will overtake Bitcoin, as the leading digital currency. While different crypto assets have risen and then fallen, none have come ever close to overthrowing Bitcoin from the top spot.
But who cares… does it really matter to overtake Bitcoin?
Bitcoin had a rough time in 2018 and in early 2019, but there have been positive things taking place, both on a market and technical level. One is the influx of Bitcoin whales buying Bitcoin, the other is growing popularity of Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs). Others think that it has nothing to do with the developments in the crypto market, instead Bitcoin’s sharp price rise is because of the trade war between US and China. Investors are moving their capital from falling stock markets into cryptocurrencies.
The price surge we’ve seen is great, but it’s only setting the stage for something bigger, much bigger. IEOs are the center piece piece of the puzzle for this year and next, until Bitcoin’s halving, next May.
IEOs hosted on Binance and others exchanges, show signs that a mania is coming, similar to what happened with ICOs. Already, Huobi, KuCoin, Bittrex, and Bitmax are hosting token sales similar to Binance.
Almost, two years after the 2017 ICO mania, most financial regulators around the world haven’t really addressed important issues, except for the US SEC hunting down and fining companies for hosting ICOs. In an effort to self regulate and adhere to compliance, exchanges have instituted KYC and AML procedures, Unfortunately, we are still far from universal framework for crypto startups.
Top exchanges have circumvented the regulatory rigmarole and IEOs have proven to be the new way for startups to fundraise. Potentially IEOs could be at least as successful, as the ICOs in the past.
IEOs could be just a re-branding ploy for ICOs. I think it was needed. Yet, I am more excited about IEOs than STOs, which have become vehicles for VCs. IEOs offer a fresh take on token sales.
With positive sentiment buildup for crypto, we’ll see more coverage from non crypto websites and media, driving more newcomers to the market, just like in 2017. Newcomers usually hunt for bigger profits and altcoins can offer huge potential profits. Prices can increase much more than BTC, with smaller investments..
When you look back at 2017, Bitcoin went up and a few months later the altcoins run started, yet altcoins outperformed BTC.
Usually, when Bitcoin rises, other coins fall because people are selling their altcoins to get Bitcoin. When Bitcoin falls, altcoins also fall because people are selling everything. When Bitcoin rises, and then stabilizes, people diversify into altcoins. This is where the real potential lies.
Will history repeat itself?
Everyone is saying that altcoins are dead. That’s not the case, especially when you look at the numbers. In fact Litecoin, is up +300% since December, Tezos +250%, Ethereum +100%, BNB +400% etc.
On the US dollar, the Eye of Providence shows the all seeing eye “that favors our endeavors”. After Bitcoin finishes it’s big run and somewhat stabilizes, the all seeing Bitcoin will favor crypto endeavors again, altcoin season will start and IEOs will explode.
Ilias Louis Hatzis is the Founder & CEO at Mercato Blockchain Corporation AG. He writes the Blockchain Weekly Front Page each Monday.
I have no positions or commercial relationships with the companies or people mentioned. I am not receiving compensation for this post.
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