Bitcoin is currently in the prolonged bear market, so much so that it is near to becoming the longest bear market ever.

The longest bear market till now has been the one between December 2013 and January 2015.

Bitcoin price from Dec 2013 to Jan 2015, Source: Coinmarketcap

This time, if February fails to bring in the bulls, this bear market would be the longest one. And if crypto experts and analysts are to be believed, Bitcoin will hit the bottom this year, but 2019 is going to see consolidation to the most part. So, in a way, this market by far is expected to be the longest bear market yet.

Bitcoin price from Dec 2017 to Jan 2019, Source: Coinmarketcap

However, it doesn't mean in any way that the market is not developing. Rather, in comparison to the bear market that maintained throughout 2014 was nowhere near to the current one in terms of developments, adoption, and maturity.

Crypto awareness has spread worldwide and strong Bitcoin fundamentals in terms of hash rate, daily active addresses, transaction volume, and average transaction fee are showing that the adoption is stronger than ever.

Economies especially that are struggling or having currency crises are moving towards cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin trading volume recently saw a surge in the Latin American countries while Bitcoin and crypto ATMs are popping up all over the globe and the number has now crossed 4000. Just recently, Coinstar kiosks allowed people to buy Bitcoin at thousands of grocery stores.

Lightning Network, a second layer on Bitcoin that allows instant and scalable transactions is growing at a fast pace indeed as the BTC capacity has grown to 570 BTC.

Source: 1ML

Bakkt by Nasdaq’s parent company is one prominent example of the biggest involvement from the mainstream. Amidst the ongoing US Shutdown, Bakkt might see a delay in launching Bitcoin futures but it is no way at rest as evident from its first acquisition already and a slew of hiring the company is currently going through.

Bitcoin halving is also coming in 2020 that will decrease the block reward by half which is expected to trigger the next bull run and before that an upward trend in the prices in this year is also a possibility.

Bitcoin has got a lot of flak and bashing from mainstream experts and central banks as just recently Jeff Schumer of BCG Digital Ventures did,

“I do believe it will go to zero. I think it's a great technology but I don't believe it's a currency. It's not based on anything.”

But Bitcoin has been in existence for a decade now and after every bear market, a new peak is achieved by this leading cryptocurrency that according to Bitcoin advocate, Andreas Antonopoulos is something on top of which economies are built.

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