What hinders the growth of the cryptocurrency market. Rating of significant events of January

Last year was quite eventful. The main thing to note is that the number of people interested in cryptocurrency has increased significantly. It's time to take stock of the main events of January.

In almost two weeks in January, capitalization decreased by half - from $830 billion to $417 billion. Yes, after that the current values ​​increased to $500 billion. But since 2013, there have been no corrections similar to this.

For a regular financial market, such jumps are not uncommon. It's clear why they happen. Take, for example, the same “dot-com boom” in the USA in 2001. Experts believe that the reason for the collapse was the launch of the first derivatives of the cryptocurrency market - Bitcoin futures. Moreover, the most rapid increase in the price of Bitcoin at $20,000, as well as other cryptocurrencies, began precisely after the launch of futures.

1. The Chicago exchanges gave private investors and large funds the opportunity to invest in cryptocurrency with the least risk. This is greatly facilitated by the established mechanism of responsibility, a clear legal field, and low technological risk.

As a result: futures turnover has increased sharply. Investors have begun pouring capital into Bitcoin and other digital currencies, which has impacted their prices. 

2. Chinese regulators forced the crypto market into the shadows.

This did not reduce the interest of Chinese investors and ordinary users, but greatly reduced the volume of crypto turnover in this jurisdiction. By the way, the regulatory laws hit, first of all, Chinese miners, who almost completely went illegal. Naturally, this could not have the same effect on the exchange rate of digital currencies. Note that after the cryptocurrency market in China was “regulated” to the point of almost complete ban, the People's Bank of China announced that it will now issue its own digital currency, which will be strictly tied to the yuan; its issue will be centrally tied to government regulators.

3. The global payment system Visa stated that it will not service transactions that go beyond traditional payments.

The CEO of this company said that it does not recognize cryptocurrencies as a means of payment and VISA only recognizes fiat payments. Leading financial institutions reacted negatively to the success of digital currencies and blockchain because they realized that these were their direct competitors.. That is, heavy artillery in the form of large financial regulators from the World Bank has entered the fight against decentralized currency. After this message, the Bitcoin rate dropped by another 15%.

4. Hack of the Japanese exchange Coincheck

The most discussed event in January was the hack of the Japanese exchange Coincheck. The attackers bypassed the market security system and reduced the value of NEM assets by almost 20% in a couple of hours for a total of $530 million. This is much more than the Mt.Gox exchange lost ($450 million).

Yes, market representatives very quickly held a press conference at which they assured that the operation of the exchange would be restored, money would be returned to investors, and the security system would be improved. But this situation greatly tarnished Coincheck’s reputation. And once again it reminded us of the unreliability of the market infrastructure.

5. Banning advertising of cryptocurrency and tokens on Facebook.

Another important news was the introduction by the social network Facebook of a ban on advertising products that, in one way or another, are associated with misleading consumers. Investment in cryptocurrency falls under this comb. It becomes clear that the network cannot physically track every advertisement dedicated to cryptocurrency and tokens, so it asks users to report violations.

Facebook most likely introduced such strict measures after the publication of the SEC press release. It announced that any advertising of cryptocurrency would be combated in order to avoid inflating a speculative bubble. As you know, advertising is the main income of a social network, so no one needs risk.