Bitcoin (BTC) seems to be in the longest bear market ever registered in history. During the last 10 years, Bitcoin has experienced three important cycles that have different similarities. However, as time passes, each of the cycles allows Bitcoin to grow even further.

The first hype related to Bitcoin happened back in 2011. At that time, decentralization and anonymity were two of the most important features of this digital asset. Although Bitcoin was not anonymous, due to the fact that there were fewer regulations related to KYC and AML, users could purchase digital assets without being controlled by exchanges and other regulatory agencies.

Back in February 2011, Bitcoin reached $1 dollar and the digital asset started to grow up to 20 dollars. Once it reached this price, Bitcoin dropped due to the hack experienced by the popular crypto exchange Mt. Gox. People were very excited about the new possibilities that Bitcoin allowed for but this hack clearly affected the space.

At that time, the bear market lasted 18 weeks, close to 4 months. Once the price bottomed it took long weeks for Bitcoin to reach a new all-time high in November 2013.

The second time that Bitcoin experienced a bear market was in 2014 and 2015. At that time, Bitcoin reached $1,100 and everyone was excited about the future of the space. Specifically, some individuals that were speculating with the price going up higher.

Moreover, the market has also experienced increasing regulatory scrutiny and mining difficulty. GPU miners were already no longer profitable and ASIC miners started to grow as well. Bitcoin supporters realized the potential related to blockchain technologies and decentralized applications related to platforms such as Ethereum (ETH).

In this occasion, the bear market lasted 57 weeks, around 13 months. After this period of time, the price started to consolidate once again.

The bear market of 2018 is similar to the previous bear markets. During this year, hundreds of new virtual currencies were launched to the market with the intention to be used in new projects and platforms. The ERC-20 standard developed by Ethereum helped companies to start creating their digital assets in an easy way.

In December 2017, Bitcoin reached $20,000 and the cryptocurrency market capitalization was near to reach $1 trillion. I feel from $850 billion down to $100 billion a few months ago. Due to the fact that there were several new coins launched, investors were very excited about it. However, everything was speculation, manipulation and hysteria.

We are now in this bear market 58 weeks, more than a year with the price of digital assets falling.

Bitcoin is the most popular digital asset and it could be embraced even more in the future. This cryptocurrency has a fixed supply, which will allow it to reach higher prices in the future if there is a constant or growing demand in the market.

Apparently, there are some companies that are very interested in investing in the cryptocurrency space, including in Bitcoin. The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) is going to launch a platform called Bakkt that will allow investors to have easier access to the cryptocurrency market by purchasing Bitcoin. Furthermore, Fidelity Investments is also working in a solution for investors to have exposure to the digital assets market.

Now, there are some challenges that Bitcoin needs to face. There are some regulatory issues and scalability things that must be solved for the largest digital asset to keep competitive in the market and start a new positive cycle.

At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin is being traded around $3,480 and it has a market capitalization of $61 billion. Although there are several other virtual currencies around the world, Bitcoin has a dominance in the market of 53.3%.

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