Crypto may have caught the "coof" and is going bearish

Many predicted we were going there. Ever since the highest point started dipping last year, crypto experts warned of bear market. It seems that not even the crypto ecosystem is safe from the "coof". And now that it got it, it needs some hibernating time in order to recover. But before that it may get worse. Of course, you might not be familiar with what the bear market or bearish means. For people that are unfamiliar with the term and how the bear market works they might be feeling a great deal of panic right now. Especially if they own crypto. Seeing how the value of your assets keeps dropping lower and lower might be like a stab of a knife repeating over and over again. But crypto going bearish is not the end of the world. And it is definitely not the end of crypto like some nay-sayers may have you believe. First of all a bear market may not only occur when it comes to cryptocurrencies. You may have only heard about it in relation to crypto but it is in no way exclusive to it. Bear market refers to when the value of an asset in a specific market drops by over 20% and may keep dropping encouraging buying. Many markets have experienced what we call a bear situations and it is at that specific moment that many have lost their fortunes while others made theirs. The most important information you must know about a bear market is that it is a double edge sword. It can really hurt those that were in need of money and wanted to sell those assets but for others that want to buy it is a golden opportunity.  

 When it comes to our crypto enthusiasts, our advice is not to panic. If this seems like to tall of an order, than maybe at least don't panic sell. If you are not in immediate need of money and the only way to get that money is to sell your crypto assets, then you should hold on to your cryptocurrency. Yes, the market may get even worse that it is now making you even more panicked stricken but like any bear going trough a rough winter, it will eventually come out of hibernation. When will that happen and how long will it take for the market to go back to before the dive nobody knows for sure but if the lessons we have learned from other bear markets in the past are true, then the comeback is real. So if you are a crypto miner, keep your coins, don't stop mining and maybe don't panic sell you mining machines. If you are involved in crypto trading, this may a great time for you to consider buying cryptocurrency. You could wait some more to see if the market will dip lower but careful because with the volatility of the crypto market it could very well rise abruptly by a double digit in a single day. 

Also, let's not forget that people usually follow a heard mentality and can be easily influenced by mass panic. This can mean that this crypto winter can last longer than expected until it finally stabilizes and starts to grow back up. In other words, be prepared for this bear to have long hibernation time especially if there are other factors which can influence it. After we have lived with the "coof" for 2 years, economies around the world are finally starting to feel the terrible effects. This effects will also spill into the crypto ecosystem as well and prolong it's downward spiral. 

Meanwhile in Russia

One of the most recognizable memes starts with the words: "meanwhile in Russia" and for good reason. Things seem to often go against common sense in Russia, thus many a memes were popularized. Even when it comes to crypto there seems to be some weird decisions being taken over to the cold corner of Europe. To quote Pavel Durov, the man behind the growing in popularity community messenger Telegram: "No developed country bans cryptocurrencies. Reason: such a ban will inevitably slow down the development of blockchain technologies in general. These technologies improve the efficiency and safety of many human activities, from finance to arts." We believe that he is absolutely right in this regard. Blockchain technology is not only useful to cryptocurrencies, it has and can have many other uses in a lot of other industries. It is literary the future of a decentralized trading system and it will not be stopped because of a ban. This is another point we want to make. Crypto and the blockchain technology will only be pushed underground if banned. Then what some people believe: that cryptocurrencies are just used in illegal trading and by the underground markets, will become a self-fulfilled prophecy. As Durov notes, Russia has some of the best specialists in terms of blockchain technology so it really does not make sense to outright ban cryptocurrencies. The ban would freeze any crypto activity whatsoever, from mining to trading or investing. 

 Other countries and their national banks have correctly recognized that putting crypto in the freezer is a bad idea. This is why they want to implement regulations what will not only alleviate fears from people that still believe cryptocurrencies are a scam, but also help push investors towards the crypto ecosystem. Pavel Durov also pointed out that Russia's neighbors from Ukraine to Uzbekistan are in alignment with other developed countries in passing laws to regulate crypto and the blockchain innovations. This is done with the recognition that failure to implement these changes will make these countries remain on the sidelines of technological and economical progress. Because let's face it, even in Russia where as the memes go, everything is backwards when it comes to the crypto ecosystem we can say that :"In mother Russia, inevitable is crypto". 

While some move backwards or stagnate, others rush forward 

If some countries don't appreciate the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency as a whole, others are 100% on board and try to make the best of it. Such is the case with Iran, a country that recently started their national cryptocurrency pilot program with the advent of its central bank digital currency (CBDC). The deputy governor for IT at the central bank of Iran, Mehran Moharamian stated that they can use digital currencies in order to solve certain inconsistencies and also decentralize resources. The central bank of Iran (CBI) also mentioned that other countries have already started to benefit from CBDC. Moharamian did not provide any specific information about the start of the pilot phase as the automation of the country's banking system and the developing of a "national cryptocurrency" plan was already in motion in 2018 and only now started to show progress. But we did learn about one thing regarding the Iranian digital currency and that is that it has been designed using the Hyperledger Fabric platform, a blockchain framework implementation and one of Hyperledger’s projects hosted by the Linux Foundation. And Iran recognizes like other countries do as well, that the blockchain technology can help many other industries not just the transactions and trading one. Sure it is at the moment most useful and desirable in the trade market since it can provide the ever so wanted decentralization but in the future it could very well be used in the health industry, the gaming industry, anything that requires records management smart contracts and of course digital currencies. 

 Speaking of blockchain technology uses, Iran is expecting to employ it in order to try and revitalize their stock market. At least we can expect so from the comments of the head of the Iranian Securities and Exchange Organization, Majid Eshqi, who stated: "At the latest, in two years we will be compelled to make use of blockchain technology… It will not be long before we start tokenizing physical assets and stocks that can be easily traded on the new platforms." He also added that it is high time to start considering blockchain technology in order to solve some issues like identity verification of shareholders. Thus they are prone on starting on the infrastructure that will hold this implementation in place. 

Of course, Iran is not the only country looking forward to crypto and blockchain technology. Recently the Union Bank of Philippines (UPB), started on their plan to offer cryptocurrency trading and custodial services. UPB is one of the largest universal banks in the Philippines and also one of the first to consider and adopt cryptocurrency. Cathy Casas, head of the bank’s blockchain and application programming interface group, explained that the average Filipino investor currently holds about 1% to 2% of their personal assets in cryptocurrency, like bitcoin. She added that if the markets are “stable,” investors would hold between 3% and 5% in 5 years. 

 As plans for crypto are well on their way in several countries as well as institutions and industries some big players are quite skeptical when it comes to cryptocurrencies. One of them is UBS, Switzerland's biggest bank which recently gave a dire warning regarding crypto winter. The bank's analysts gave several reasons why they believe the current crypto crisis may last for years with cryptocurrencies loosing more value before finally stabilizing. Some of those reasons included the overall bad state of the world economy because of the pandemic, high inflation which has hit most countries as well as the volatility of crypto as an asset which scares investor away. Now of course believing what banks tell us about crypto could be something like believing the mainstream media when they bash online news. As for weather they are right or wrong only time will tell. But surely enough even they recognized that crypto is here to stay. It may take a long break as it goes bearish and recovers from the "coof" but just like bad sequels to a good movie or the evolution of everything in the human society, cryptocurrencies will become mainstream and replace the old system as an inevitable event.