As Bitcoins Price Retreats Continue To Get Larger and More Pronounced, The Possibility Of Bitcoin Loosing Massive Support Becomes More Likely.

While Bitcoin has consistently made retreats after achieving significant gains, today's retreat indicates that Bitcoin's recent run over the past several months may be coming to an end. 

While when the price level of Bitcoin increases it typically makes a significant run only to make a retreat at some point, and then regain those losses over the following weeks. There is something about this run that feels a but different to me, and I am pretty hesitant to assume that Bitcoin will be able to continue to make price gains over the following months. When we look at the charts from so far this year it may lead us to believe that Bitcoin will gain support and momentum over the following weeks and be able to reach the 2900+ USD level once again, but in my opinion the market will soon reach a 'breaking' point. While interest in Bitcoin is at an all time high, the practicality and efficiency of actually using Bitcoins are much lower than they have been in the past. 

While interest in the cryptocurrency community typically begins with individuals looking at and trying to understand Bitcoin, it often leads to individuals branching out into other blockchain and cryptocurrency projects. This has always been the case, but we have never seen such a rapid and immediate increase in interest in Bitcoin in many years. While the initial interest and investment may go to Bitcoin, as individuals and institutions are around the cryptocurrency market for a longer period of time, the probability that they will move their interest and investment to other projects besides Bitcoin also increases. While Bitcoin has seen significant increases in interest and investment due to its recent increase in interest, will the Bitcoin market really be able prove itself enough to keep these individuals confident and interested in the project?

As more institutions and high level investors practicality, functionality, and efficiency will become key determining factors for a project.

So many projects that currently exist have great ideas that they wish to achieve, but very few have presented any form of substantive or rational means of actually achieving the goals they set out to achieve. The biggest and most established tokens and projects in the industry have great philosophies and goals they wish to achieve, but it seems like very few actually ask the question of how probable the project achieving success actually is. Even  if  a project has the best idea in the world, if they can't produce a system or platform that enables that idea to become a reality, then at the end of the day the project will likely be replaced. A project that attempts to distinguish itself based directly off of their idea will likely have a serious problem gaining success in the future, because ideas can always be recreaseted and embedded into a platform or system that can actually make the idea a reality.

Let's take the example of smart contract platforms. While Ethereum was the project that originally purposed the idea and a platform that could handle smart contracts, there is nothing to say that the platform will not be replaced in the long run. I'm not saying that Ethereum will fail or will not succeed in the long run, but simply that the ideas and goals of the Ethereum platform will become less important compared to actual capability and capacity in the future. The ideas and goals that Ethereum wishes to achieve could be implemented by another platform/project, and Ethereum would have a much harder time scaling and changing compared to a new project. While Ethereum's recent investment and interest show that individuals are actively searching for a practical and usable smart contract platform, it is not sufficient evidence to lead me to believe that Ethereum has any greater chances of success than it previously did. Regardless of a project/token's current price level, the actual capability of the project and network are a much more important factor in my opinion. 

Bitcoin and other dominating projects have a very difficult and slow process of updating and improving their network or project. 

While the idea of needing an overwhelming consensus to make any changes made a lot of sense when Bitcoin was deployed, in the current market environment it is causing serious difficulties to the Bitcoin network. If we look at anything from the block size debate to other things, we can see just how hard it is to make changes to the Bitcoin network. While the idea of all producers (miners) having equal power and influence originally seemed like a great idea, the consolidation of computational power into numerous firms having serious influence and stake has made it much more difficult for Bitcoin to make the changes that some thing it requires. This gives large producers way too much power, and these individuals have the ability to slow and delay development very easily for nearly any reason.

The idea of delegated Proof Of Stake (DPOS) is an absolute genius method for circumventing the possibility of nefarious actors gaining influence, and I think that is shown through the success that DPOS networks have has in terms of reliable witnesses. Having the ability to change and improve with the times is an absolutely necessary aspect for any cryptocurrency project that wishes to actually gain success, which is another thing I think few people actually realize. Bitcoin has been struggling for years about the best way to handle their increased network activity, and have yet to reach a practical solution. In the real world, things need to be able to change quickly and efficiently, and not be reliant on numerous large stake holders who may be working towards their own interests. 

The philosophy and 'ideas' of a cryptocurrency project will likely begin to become less important, and a projects actual efficiency and potential to achieve its goals will become more important in the future. While investment in the cryptocurrency market is at an all time high, the current investment level is so far under what it will likely be one adoption of a project actually takes place. Investors and traders who are currently engaged in trading and investment in the market would be considered high risk-takers, but once the market really has a chance to mature it could really grow to a size which very few expect. While institutional interest has surrounded blockchain technology, I believe we won't see serious institutional investment until a project that shows true long term potential comes along. A project that provides a practical solution to a real world problem is the project with the best chance of success, but the project must actually be able to reach and handle to goals that it sets out to achieve. 

While the rapid and increased interest in cryptocurrency has been very beneficial for Bitcoin so far, I don't believe that Bitcoin will be able to maintain the current support levels it currently has in the long term. If the Bitcoin network was able to become more efficient and practical to use, then its future as a currency could still have some potential. Right now, I think that Bitcoin will be used as a store of value and as an 'investment; in the future, but I'm not even entirely convinced that will happen anymore. It really seems like people like to ignore the serious problems that Bitcoin actually faces in terms of mainstream adoption and long term success, because they are so engrained in their beliefs and feelings surrounding Bitcoin. I'm in no way trying to bash Bitcoin, but I encourgage you to take a look at the actual problems it faces before considering its chances of success. 

I hope that you enjoyed this post, and I urge you to leave any comments, questions, ect below! Thanks for reading!

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You may have noticed that I haven't been posting much over the past few days, and that is because I'm in the process of configuring, hardening, and establishing my Peerplays witness. I have not made a post relating to my intent yet, and that's coming soon. I would never throw my name into the running before I was positive that my setup is bulletproof, because safety and security are so much more important than getting the witness up ASAP. I encourage you to stay tuned for my official declaration of intent, which is coming in the following days. Thanks for any future consideration!