Over the course of 2017, Bitcoin had enjoyed a phenomenal year, with its underlying value rocketing, especially when compared to its sluggish, but otherwise still impressive growth in previous years. For investors perspicacious enough to participate in buying it, they were rewarded with a tremendous return of over 1,350 percent.

To put this into perspective, by the end of 2017, Bitcoin had jumped from a few hundred to its all-time peak of $20,000. An early, if not fleeting kind of Christmas present for investors if they proved quick enough to the draw to sell. What a difference a month makes, however, as we see in 2018, with January seeing Bitcoin's value slashed by nearly 70 percent over the span of the year.

From January 1st to December 2018, Bitcoin plummeted, falling from $14,000 to scratching above $3,400. Now while investors and speculators remain divided as to whether or not Bitcoin has managed to hit its bottom support, but there are still a number of reasons to buy Bitcoin, even during this bearish trend.

Global adoption from speculative investors to large-scale institutional organizations act as a pleasant counterbalance to the downward trajectory of Bitcoin over last year. One of the ways that we're seeing this adoption is through the number of Bitcoin wallets that have been downloaded. According to data from Blockchain.com, there has been an increase of over 10 million wallets over the past year.

This demonstrates that, in spite of diminishing market value, the rate of interest in using Bitcoin by individuals has increased over time.

Meanwhile, the rate of trading in terms of volume within leading cryptocurrency exchanges has also shown a remarkable increase over time. Emerging markets within the developing world have shown the most significant growth over 2018. These include nations in South America such as Argentina, Colombia, Peru and especially Venezuela, all of which showed a higher degree of trading activity.

The inclusion of the Lightning Network will only work to help this rate of adoption increase as well. This protocol can help allow people to conduct transactions through these new payment channels at a faster rate with little to no fees attached.

Conversations regarding the creation of a regulatory framework for crypto-based digital assets have steadily been growing over time over the tables of G20 meetings last year. And it's becoming increasingly clear that legislators, members of financial regulatory bodies are seeking to bring cryptocurrency under the same regulation-based framework that the likes of forex and equity markets come under.

For Bitcoin maximalists, cryptocurrency enthusiasts, and primarily those who represent the Cyberpunk community are very averse to the idea of regulation in this highly An-Cap environment. While they make up a very outspoken member of the community, there are those that are quite keen on the prospect of regulation within the crypto market, especially in the interest of investors.

A regular crypto asset market involves a lot of fluidity for investors, making for a highly liquid, fast-acting market. The downside to this is that it trades expediency for investor security; if the market crashes or the buyer is left in the lurch to some degree, there are no protections.

On the other hand, an asset market that is regulated will be able to bring in a whole other kind of investor, more specifically institutional and retail-based investors. This in itself will set about a virtuous investment circle; institutional investor activity will give the exchange a great deal of credibility. This credibility would inevitably lead to a regulatory seal of approval.

These seals of approval are the exact ones that mutual funds, insurance companies, and pensions require to operate as an investment class.

While we are seeing a steady level of inclusion of regulation in the crypto market, a framework is steadily being created. Regulations such as ‘Know Your Customer' (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering checks (AML) are helping to give a much-needed level of credibility to future token sales, but it's still dependant on how ready crypto assets are to embrace these measures.

Over the course of 2019, we can expect to see far more in the way of regulation and enforcement coming into place. While there are those that are resentful of bringing centralized policies into an ideologically, and technically, decentralized medium. Long term, regulation brings with it a gradual professionalization of Bitcoin, making it more secure, reputable and profitable.

Institutional investment is out there, as we have seen from the likes of Fidelity, Nasdaq as well as the major name behind the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) – the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Each of these organizations has in fact announced last year that they intend to launch a range of cryptocurrency trade offerings for the community of institutional investors they represent. While the date remains vague, they are expected to enter the market over the course of 2019.

The most significant of these is ICE's own project, which is called Bakkt. This venture intends to entice more firms based in Wall Street to get involved in the trading of Bitcoin through the exchange. Bakkt would be given a greater deal of credibility by being very well regulated, as well as bearing the seal of approval from ICE of all institutions.

Bakkt will also include a range of bitcoin-based derivative products as well as providing investors with a cryptocurrency custody service and intends to have this coincide with a crypto merchant payment service. Having this suite of services available will make Bakkt highly appealing to investors used to the sort of products available on Wall Street.

Along with Bakkt, there has been an increasing number of crypto hedge funds that have emerged over the course of last year. As a result, there is far more institutional investment going on in the crypto world, and this will only increase over 2019.

Innovation has never ceased within the blockchain community,  especially within the altcoin world. The latter of which believes that Bitcoin, while being the first pioneer in the space, will inevitably be replaced by another, more dynamic digital asset.  And for those that have been exposed to the Bitcoin community, it's not too farfetched.

People do have a tendency to overlook the fact that there is movement going on within the Bitcoin world; it's not some kind of static entity and is paying attention to the need to adapt.

Prominent developers are striving to find innovative new ways to improve and streamline Bitcoin and its underlying network in order to boost its longer-term ability to scale for mass adoption. Along with this, some are looking outwards to include privacy enhancement in order to ensure people are more secure when using it. This also includes the adoption and enabling of other, successful features from the blockchain solutions, more specifically, Ethereum's smart contracts.

Some of the recent tried and tested examples we see of this are the Lightning Network and Liquid Networks, which were released over the course of 2018. The release of these networks demonstrates that the community is developing and looking to evolve.

A final thing to consider is the fact that, when looking back at the history of Bitcoin since its conception in 2008, it's at a fantastic point overall. While it's seen enough peaks and troughs over the years and has had many amateur crypto-coroners proclaiming false prognoses of Bitcoin. Over the same span of time, Bitcoin was reported ‘dead' a grand total of 340 times so far according to the mainstream media.

While the crypto has had its tough times and bearish trends, it has always managed to defy the odds, managing to bounce back beyond previous expectations. And there is very little reason to believe that it can't continue to persevere.

Over the course of 2011, Bitcoin surged ahead to hit a high mark of $30 within popularly known cryptocurrency exchanges of the time, including Mt Gox. In the aftermath of a hack that took place within the exchange, its price had managed to plummet from this high point down to a trough of $2 in late 2011. For buyers looking at the long game, it's still remarkable for them to see this rise and fall. And it would amaze them all the more when it recovered and bounced back in 2012.

It would hit another record in terms of value when, in April 2013, the price of Bitcoin reached $260 for a brief moment, before falling to nearly $120 due again to the chronic issues of high trading traffic on Mt Gox. The exchange was unfortunate enough to suffer from a DDoS attack as well.

For contemporaries, this would originally spell out doom for investors and Bitcoin at large, but it didn't take too long from this to see Bitcoin, once again, surging upwards to surpass its previous high market valuation.

It wasn't until late 2013 that Bitcoin managed to hit its first $1,000 for the very first time. But it also wouldn't take too long for its market to steadily collapse down to a low of $175 over the course of the next two years. It would take another two years that Bitcoin would finally manage to reach the $1,000 point again. From here, we would see Bitcoin continue to rocket upward to reach a high point of $20,000.

Price data over the course of Bitcoin's lifespan has demonstrated that it undergoes a trending behavior of bust to bounce and a bullish upswing, albeit taking over a few years. There are a large number of positive developments from Bitcoin that have been unfairly dwarfed by the value movement in 2018.

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