1/10 ANDY HOFFMAN (CryptoGoldCentral.com): What Will End Bitcoin’s Bear Market Blues? I Have No Idea!

Financial market trends can last for LONG periods – sometimes, for fundamental reasons; sometimes, manipulation; and sometimes, reasons no one can easily explain.

In stocks, bear markets have not been “allowed” since the 2008 financial crisis – and perhaps, never will be, given how much control has been commandeered by Central banks and “plunge protection teams.” In government bonds, ditto - with the added tailwind of the powerful deflationary trend of the massive, parabolic debt growth that cannot stop, given the Ponzi-esque nature of the fiat currency regimes that caused it.

The industrial commodity market is demonstrating this trend, too – as despite the aforementioned, unnatural financial market support, they are clearly suffering from a wave of oversupply that is being exacerbated by underlying weakness in global demand.

https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/crb

As for Precious Metals, it’s funny how every year, prices rise in early January - giving rise to renewed HOPE that a bull market is finally upon us. To that end, this year’s meager 1% increases do not yield particularly strong vibes – particularly in light of relative calmness in the currency and financial markets. And oh yeah, the fact that gold, silver, and platinum are for all intents and purposes, trading at all-time inflation-adjusted lows.

From my perspective, as someone who dedicated 15 years to the Precious Metal markets, gold and silver’s monetary use cases have been permanently usurped by Bitcoin – which in every imaginable way, is a superior asset. Moreover, Precious Metal markets have been so destroyed by dilution, hypothecation, opacity, manipulation, and propaganda, it’s hard to believe ANYONE actually believes gold ETFs, futures, and options have anything to do with actual gold – the latter of which, has witnessed plunging global sales.

Regarding Bitcoin, it has never been more useful or efficient – with rapidly broadening use cases, in an evolving Digital Age desperately in need of expanded crypto infrastructure. Yes, the 2017 bull phase was undoubtedly bubble-like, yielding the commensurate bear market collapse. However, 13 months from its top – and 12 for altcoins - we are likely to be at or near the tail-end of the decline…as usual, to a new bottom far higher than the previous (Mt Gox-driven) lows. Moreover, Bitcoin’s “dominance” has not risen above the low 50% range despite the epic crypto collapse – supporting my rapidly increasing view that altcoins will play a major role in the crypto economy…though, of course, the vast majority of today’s legacy crop of pump-and-dumps are destined to miserably fail.

Bitcoin’s biggest problem, in my view, is the technical damage caused by the SV attack in early November. Two months later, I STILL have no idea how a disgraced Bitcoin core developer, with an utterly ridiculous implementation of the disgraced BCash fork, could have done so much damage. However, the fact remains that the SHA256 “Hash Wars” are real – and until Bitcoin can prove that the recent, modest hash rebound is sustainable, I suspect the price could bounce around the $3-$5,000 range for some time. So far, so good – as hash is indeed creeping higher, whilst BCash and SV become more and more discredited with each passing day.

https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-hashrate.html#1y

Of course, the big pink elephant in the room is the “Hoffman Line” I spent so much time speaking of for the past 15 months – starting in October 2017, when, BEFORE Brian Kelly of CNBC noted the “wall of institutional money” headed for crypto, I espoused that a $100 billion market cap would catalyze the world’s largest investors to invest in the space.

https://cryptogoldcentral.com/2017/10/20/the-6000100000000-magic-numbers/

The fact that it was so easily broken during the comically transparent SV attack was a major psychological blow – and now that Bitcoin has been below $100 billion for 2+ months, it’s clear that it is becoming major upside resistance...just as it provided major downside support for essentially all of 2018.

I have no doubt that Bitcoin will eventually retake this glass ceiling, as it is simply too valuable a tool, in a world desperately in need of replacing its Flintstonian monetary system – or at least, incorporating crypto as a key component in an evolving Digital Age. However, at this point, it is entirely unclear what will provide the catalyst, or when – which is why, from a risk preservation standpoint, I sold all my Bitcoin when the Hoffman Line broke.

That said, the decision was made MUCH easier by my increasingly powerful belief in BRhodium – which in my view, is one of the “precious” few altcoins with a viable, defensible use case. With just a $20 million market cap – up from $2 million when MainNet launched 2½ months ago; and exchange listing, on multiple exchanges, imminent; I expect it to be one of the best performing altcoins of 2019. This is where ALL my crypto investment is currently, and where it will stay for the foreseeable future.