The last days we are experiencing a decline of exchange rates of all crypto tokens. It is worth going though the reported facts, then everyone can use their own judgement and conclude where we stand.
Card services providers.
One of the main factors effecting on the rates is the massive cut off that took and is taking place by shutting down credit & debit card services. Noone can deny that this has a tremendous effect on the exchange volumes. It is obviously coordinated and is a result of the legacy industry’s effort to sustain itself against the inevitable.
As far as I am concerned, buying with credit cards was never an option that I wished to be enacted, but debit card purchases of crypto tokens are always welcome.
Government regulations.
Legislators around the world have taken or are taking steps to regulate the crypto tokens markets which is not just good news, to the extent it does not try to choke their usage, but signifies huge short term rates growth as entrepreneurs will be able to mitigate their liabilities while laying out business plans with greater confidence. Especially the last month those regulation reports have multiplied which also is an explanation of the legacy industry’s reaction, as it seems their leverage against crypto tokens industry does not pass through.
The effort to regulate the crypto token industry is certainly also holding back a lot of projects as most probably entrepreneurs are waiting for the final approved legislation from the respective bodies. As a result, exchange volumes are sustained to low levels.
Network disruption.
During December 2017 and January 2018 malicious activity is detected against the bitcoin network, taking advantage of a feature bitcoin has, which makes transactions combining different addresses of the same wallet more sizeable and as a result more expensive in terms of transaction fees. Imagine now a service that deliberately produces only such transactions during peak time, forcing its customers to pay for its malevolent behavior, is one possibility, or just someone designated enough funds to do so at his own expense. Given all the hostility observed against bitcoin and its developers team, since they denied to bent knee to persons wishing to hijack the whole project but also the legacy industry’s virulence, there are a lot of motivated actors out there.
Main steam media of all sorts.
Simultaneously, well known and not so much respected media have been propagating a false narrative that crypto tokens are in a bubble ready to burst. Reports also unveiled negative bulletins such that of Goldman Sachs prompting its customers away from crypto tokens. There is activity beyond the average user’s reach. Now those consciously false reports are just an active defamation campaign against the crypto tokens markets and I do not rule out that is, to the best case, a small token of appreciation to their legacy industry masters who have been sustaining their existence for a long time already. It is certainly in clear coordination aiming to manipulate the market.
Of course the Securities and Exchange Commission and the respective bodies of other countries have not even hinted they are going to move against this illicit activity.
Profit making actors.
I am convinced there is another class of individuals involved in this act, directly or not remains to be inferred, which is profit makers. Their con act is to buy low given the massive sell off observed and as soon as prices recover sell high, especially since the regulation environment is being significantly optimized.
Each one of us, should use his own ability to judge if all the above mentioned are valid and plot his course in terms of selling or holding his crypto tokens. As far as I am concerned, and since it is a matter of principle involved in the events I described above, I am holding all and just selling crypto tokens whose management teams are involved in malicious activity against the core principles I laid out for years prior to and at the publication time of these days notorious bitcoin paper, and the business plans for some other which I will not reveal at this point.