During 2017, Bitcoin had an incredible bull run. Its price moved from just under $1,000 to $20,000 at the end of the year. This allowed several crypto bullish individuals to suggest that Bitcoin could reach new highs during 2018.

Nevertheless, this did not happen. Bitcoin entered a bear market that might not have reached an end yet.

The reasons for the decline are more than one and usually more complex than expected. During 2017, especially during the second part of the year, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies grew almost exponentially. Nevertheless, behind them, there was just hype and speculation rather than real development and technology improvements.

At the same time, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) started to release new tokens to the market. These tokens were supposed to be better than Bitcoin in some cases, while in others the intention was to revolutionize a specific industry. Most of these ICOs have failed.

Most ICO teams sold the funds gathered in order to be able to keep operating in such a bear market. Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) were the main coins that these projects received when they sold their tokens. This created an important selling pressure in both Bitcoin and Ether. At the same time, ICOs crashed and in many cases, they died since they did not have any revenue model planned.

One of the most important figures in the crypto space, Michael Novogratz, said that the ICO market is almost dead. He said this after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decided to go after two projects called Paragon and Airfox. Both of them will have to pay a $250,000 fine and give back money to investors.

2019 will be very important for Bitcoin. It will experience very interesting things that might have an important impact on its price. The first half of the year will be full of new announcements. Just in February, the SEC will have to provide an answer on whether it will be approving or not a Bitcoin ETF.

Moreover, the Bakkt platform for institutional investors will be launched during the first month of 2019. New institutions and traditional investors will have the possibility to invest in the crypto market being sure that their funds are properly stored.

Finally, the ICO market will be different. ICOs will have to focus on quality rather than quantity and they will have to develop functioning platforms before trying to launch a token. At least, successful companies will start to work in this way.

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