Bitcoin started 2022 at almost double the value of January 2021, capping a year in which interest and curiosity about the mainstream cryptocurrency exploded. But before the first month of 2022 was over, Bitcoin had shed almost all of the previous year’s gains, falling to the $33,000 range in January. In this article we will talk about Bitcoin Price History.
As more everyday investors question how cryptocurrency might fit into their portfolios, financial advisors have found themselves adding crypto to their guidelines. “A lot of people bought cryptocurrency for the first time this year,” says Brittney Castro, a Los Angeles-based certified financial planner at Mint and founder of media company Financially Wise.
Along with institutional adoption and government regulatory interest, these crypto newcomers are influencing the once marginal crypto landscape and moving the needle towards mainstream adoption. “Fifty-one percent of Americans who own cryptocurrency bought it in the last 12 months,” says Lisa Lewis, a chartered accountant at TurboTax, citing data from a survey her company conducted earlier this year.
In most cases, and as many experts recommend, crypto newbies buy Bitcoin or the most popular altcoin (alternative coin), Ethereum. Bitcoin (BTC) hit an all-time high above $68,000 in November 2021 after starting the year at just under $30,000, and the crypto industry as a whole grew to a total market cap of more than $2 trillion. Meanwhile, Ether (ETH) has surged from around $737 to about $3,000 depending on the day.
Bitcoin market cap
But here’s the thing about crypto: These prices can drop 15% or more overnight or in a matter of hours. They usually do. Volatility is a hallmark of cryptocurrency, with a few exceptions like stablecoins. For this reason, experts recommend investors limit cryptocurrency investments to less than 5% of their total portfolio and never invest in cryptocurrency at the expense of saving for emergencies and paying off high-interest debt.
As we near the end of this big year for crypto, we spoke to some crypto experts and industry experts about Bitcoin’s price over the years and what that might tell us about its future. Here’s a look at Bitcoin’s price history from its early days in 2009 to the present day.
What factors influence the current bitcoin price?
Like other currencies, products, or services within a country or economy, the prices of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies depend on perceived value and supply and demand. If people think bitcoin is worth a certain amount, they will pay it, especially if they think the value will increase.
Only 21 million bitcoins are ever created per design. The closer bitcoin gets to its limit, the higher its price will be as long as demand stays the same or increases.
Bitcoins are created at a certain rate by mining software and hardware. This rate halves every four years, slowing down the number of coins created. Following the laws of supply and demand, Bitcoin’s price should continue to rise as its supply may not be able to meet its demand – as long as its popularity keeps growing. However, if popularity wanes and demand falls, there will be more supply than demand, and Bitcoin’s price should fall unless it maintains its value for other reasons.
Bitcoin price history
Another factor affecting the price of bitcoin falls in line with supply and demand; Bitcoin has become a vehicle for investors and financial institutions to store value and generate returns. Derivatives have been created and traded by investors, further affecting the price of Bitcoin. Speculation, the hype around investment products, irrational exuberance, or investor panic and fear can also affect the price of Bitcoin as demand will rise and fall with investor sentiment.
Other cryptocurrencies can also influence the price of Bitcoin. There are multiple cryptocurrencies, and the number continues to grow as regulators, institutions, and merchants address concerns and adopt them as acceptable means of payment and payment. Finally, if consumers and investors believe that other coins will prove more valuable than Bitcoin, demand will fall and take prices down — or demand will rise along with prices if sentiment shifts in the opposite direction.
Why Bitcoin cloud mining?
An unknown individual or group called Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the Bitcoin network in 2009. In 2021, there will be more than 10,000 different projects in cryptocurrencies. So each of them has its role in building the future of money.
The market value of cryptocurrencies reached $ 1 trillion for the first time in January 2021. It passed $ 2.5 trillion less than three months later. So it shows that this market is one of the growing markets favoring its investors.
Bitcoin Cloud Mining is the process by which you participate in a mining pool to a cloud miner website and purchase a certain amount of hash power. In this pool, the profit will distribute equally among all participants who have participated in the mining pool. It will happen based on hash power. Also, the cloud mining platform allows you to mine your BTC without installing any hardware and at no extra cost. So Minerland, the best crypto cloud mining service to earn Bitcoin, helps you invest in Bitcoin easily and with low risk. For more information about us, you can follow Minerland’s Instagram account.
Bitcoin price history
Bitcoin has a much richer track record compared to other cryptos, although it is still in its infancy compared to the 200+ year history of the US stock market.
Here’s a brief overview of Bitcoin’s past, which is full of the same ups, downs, and big swings we’ve seen throughout 2021:
2009: Bitcoin’s Origin
The invention of the bitcoin currency (BTC) coincided with the invention of bitcoin as a blockchain and was the first of its kind in history.
“The unit of value (BTC) would not have been possible without blockchain technology, but there never was a Bitcoin blockchain without currency either,” said Robert Konsdorf, CEO of Facings, a Michigan-based company that develops user-friendly blockchain publishing tools.
Bitcoin’s initial price was $0. The founder, known by the alias Satoshi Nakamoto, famously published the Bitcoin white paper to explain how the new technology would work.
2010: The first “jump”
Bitcoin’s first “big” jump happened in the summer of 2010. The price went from a fraction of a cent in the spring to $0.09 in July. Very few people, other than niche tech experts and financial enthusiasts, knew enough about Bitcoin to buy the currency. In October 2010, the price was around $0.10.
2011: Bitcoin breaks $1
Bitcoin broke through $1 in April 2011 and entered its first mini “bull run.” It rose about 3,000% over the next three months, peaking in June 2011 between $29 and $32 (depending on the source). In November 2011, the price bottomed again at $2.
The following year was uneventful. Bitcoin failed to recover in 2012, ending the year between $13 and $14.
2013: Bitcoin breaks $100, then $1,000 – then falls
Bitcoin started 2013 at around $13.28. It climbed to the $30 mark in the first quarter of the year and then quickly accelerated in the last week of March. Bitcoin broke through $100 on April 1st. Online forums on Reddit became a hub for curious money enthusiasts and techies wondering why this new asset class – detached from any physical commodities – could have value.
Bitcoin broke through $1,000 by November 2013 – then the price fell dramatically to around $530 by December.
2014 to 2016: Bitcoin stalls
Despite the volatility, these early rumors were enough to convince Nelson Merchan, CEO of blockchain events company Light Node Media, to look into crypto. As a college student at the time, Merchan first bought Bitcoin when the price was around $600.
“I was a sophomore in college when I came across a Reddit post in early 2014 talking about this digital currency that had hit $1,000,” Merchan tells NextAdvisor. “I thought, ‘If people are willing to pay $1,000 for digital currency, there’s more to it than that.’
Merchan continued to research Bitcoin and its unique supply framework in particular: “I found out that there would only be 21 million BTC. So I thought, ‘Okay, if it’s $1,000 and only 21 million will ever be made in the world, that’s going to be huge. We’ve never really seen a currency of any kind has a finite supply,” he says.
However, the next two years required a lot of patience, says Merchan. The price of BTC stagnated and would not reach $1,000 again until 2017. Unsure of what the future held, Merchan avoided telling his friends about his mysterious investment.
“People weren’t interested in this cryptocurrency thing. And the thing is, if you know crypto, you don’t want to get people into it. I’ve had horrible experiences with people telling people to get in and then losing all their money.”
2017: Bitcoin hits $1,000 and starts a bull run
After years of fluctuating between $100 and $900, Bitcoin finally broke through $1,000 again in January 2017. This started a euphoric Bull Run phase. Prices doubled to $2,000 in mid-May and then skyrocketed to over $19,000 by December.
Merchan says he’s seen his initial investments (he estimates they were under $15,000) grow to millions seemingly overnight. The unexpected increase in net worth was an adjustment for Merchan, but he maintained a certain cautious skepticism about this newfound source of wealth.
“I firmly believe that if it’s not in cash, you don’t have that money because everything in crypto can fall pretty dramatically overnight,” says Merchan. “If you have a million dollars in the bank (in crypto), you have to be very careful because if your monthly spend keeps going up and the market falls 50%, you need to tighten your belt now.”
It turns out that Merchan’s long-term mindset would be necessary for Bitcoin’s next phase.
2017 to 2019: More ups and downs
Thanks to the media coverage and the surge in Bitcoin price, the crypto industry started to grow. Thousands of altcoins were minted as international diplomats, governments, mathematicians, economists, technicians, and financial experts increasingly debated cryptocurrency regulation and mainstream adoption.
The price of bitcoin moved sideways with a few small spikes during this period. The highest high was around $17,527 in January 2018. The lowest drop was around $3,236 in December 2018.
“I’ve gone from millions of dollars in crypto to a few hundred thousand,” Merchan recalled.
At the end of 2019, the price of Bitcoin was around $7,200.
2020: The coronavirus pandemic
As the coronavirus pandemic shut down the economy and fueled fears of inflationary pressures on the US dollar, Bitcoin’s price began accelerating in its uptrend. By December 2020, Bitcoin’s price had increased by over 300% since January. The year ended with a price of around $29,374 – its highest price ever.
2021 to present
Bitcoin doubled in value in 2021, but January 2022 saw a significant drop that wiped out almost all of the previous year’s gains. We’ve seen Bitcoin soar to an all-time high above $64,000 in the first half of 2021 and then just as quickly fall back below $30,000 over the summer. Bitcoin hit another all-time high above $68,000 in November but had fallen back below $35,000 by January 2022. Some experts are still saying Bitcoin’s price will surpass $100,000 – describing it as a matter of when rather than if.
How high will bitcoin go in the future?
Bitcoin’s conservative predictions say the cryptocurrency will hit $100,000 by 2023, but more bullish crypto enthusiasts say $250,000 isn’t far off. Big financial institutions are also bringing their forecasts to the debate, with JPMorgan predicting a long-term high of $146,000 and Bloomberg predicting it could hit $400,000 by 2022.
Because bitcoin (and crypto in general) is so new, price predictions are mostly educated speculation. Financial planners, therefore, recommend only investing in crypto what you can afford to lose. Or you can just relax, knowing that by investing in mainstream low-cost index funds and ETFs. You may already be investing in crypto, albeit indirectly. Several blue-chip companies, including Tesla and Square, either hold crypto in their portfolios. Or they plan to incorporate blockchain technology into their business models. For example, e-signature company DocuSign has been experimenting with Ethereum integration to create advanced smart contracts.
What drives the price of bitcoin?
Bitcoin is valuable thanks to its limited supply, which steadily increases demand from a larger number of investors. It has also been referred to by some as an inflation hedge.
People from many different industries also believe that blockchain (the technology on which all cryptos are based) could be a game-changer and create transparency across different industries.
“[Bitcoin has] captured the imagination of investors,” said Dave Abner, global head of business development at popular crypto exchange Gemini. With a current market cap of around $900 billion, the volume of Bitcoin bought and sold now is large enough. So institutional investors are seeing an opportunity to get involved, he explains.
What do investors need to know about Bitcoin?
Above all, Abner encourages consumers to know what type of investors they are. And only buy Bitcoin in a way that fits their long-term strategies. He points to famed value investor Warren Buffet as an example of someone who decided to exit the crypto market. Because it didn’t fit their overall approach.
“People have FOMO,” says Abner — aka “afraid of missing out.”. A lot of people are starting to wonder, ‘What am I missing?’ But you want to look at your portfolio” before investing in crypto just because others are doing it.
Is Bitcoin a Good Investment?
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency intended to be used as a payment method. Investors and traders started using it as an investment, but its price is very volatile – this creates significant financial risk. It is best to talk to a professional financial advisor about your life circumstances and goals. Do it before you buy Bitcoin as an investment.
