The term cryptocurrency has been banded around for a good amount of time now and is often followed closely by the word Bitcoin, for good reason. Bitcoin has been the subject of much recent publicity, especially since its meteoric rise in 2017 which saw its value climb to almost $20,000 on the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (BPI). However, the cryptocurrency is currently trading at around $7,300 and with Google searches for Bitcoin down almost 75%, is Bitcoin still your best bet when it comes to dealing in cryptocurrency?
The Truth About Bitcoin
Despite the recent waning interest in Bitcoin, it still continues to be the most widely used cryptocurrency in the business world. Sites such as Expedia, Microsoft and Shopify continue to keep their faith in Bitcoin and allow customers to pay using the cryptocurrency for a number of their premier services. In addition to this, English Premier League club Arsenal recently became the world’s first soccer team to sign a digital currency partnership with former England footballer Michael Owen, also announcing that he is to move into the world of cryptocurrency. Bitcoin also continues to dominate within the iGaming industry, with leading sites such as Vegas Casino allowing customers to stake their bets in Bitcoin, ensuring quick transactions which are both safe and secure – a primary concern for modern-day gamers.
The Best Bitcoin Alternatives
It’s important to note that the large majority of cryptocurrencies have shed their value since January just like Bitcoin, and that very few have outperformed the crypto-giant. In fact, in terms of cryptocurrencies that have been trading since the start of the year, only two companies are firmly in the green – Digixdao, which is a gold-backed token, has increased 12% in value in the last three months; whereas the Chinese altcoin, Bytom, is up around 2% in the same period. However, some of the most well-known alternatives to Bitcoin such as Ethereum and Litecoin are slowly attracting a growing number of merchants – but at the same time, they are still lagging behind Bitcoin in the grand scheme of things.
What Should You Do as a Crypto Investor?
In such a volatile market, it’s extremely difficult to predict the rise and fall of digital currency. Okay, the recent drop in Bitcoin’s value was inevitable in some ways, and the more savvy investors will have already cashed in a fair bit of their currency in an attempt to beat the market to the punch. However, the reality is that if you’d have attempted to counteract the decline of Bitcoin by investing in other cryptocurrencies such as Ripple, you’d have lost out pretty heavily. Unless you have some sort of time machine or consider yourself to be a demon when it comes to margin trading, your best course of action is to hang onto most of your Bitcoin and wait for the market to sort itself out.
After all, when the curtain finally falls on 2018, who knows what the charts will look like in terms of the best performing cryptocurrencies? For now, Bitcoin is your best bet – but that’s not to say that you shouldn’t always be on the lookout for a better alternative.
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