2018 is heading towards the end, and a comprehensive look back reveals that it has been a challenging year for the cryptocurrencies. Whether it is the reversal of market rally witnessed in 2017, bursting the hype around blockchain Technology, or collapse of the number of initial coin offerings (ICOs), investors in the digital assets really faced a tough time during the whole 2018. Now, what is the net impact of 2018 on the Crypto market, a new UK report helps to quantify by presenting some facts and figures.
Shut down grew by 144%
2017 proved to be a phenomenal for cryptocurrencies as rising valuations of the sector saw a huge influx of new entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, some scammers also entered in the system in the garb of entrepreneurs and took advantage of high running sentiments by conning the people. Some deceived the inexperienced investors through their IOCs while others pulled a fast one by attaching blockchain term to their companies’ names. As the dust settled and all the hype subsided, many of these new ventures went bankrupt and closed down their business.
Quantifying the Companies which shut down in 2018 because of the challenging time in the Crypto market, Sky News of the UK has pegged the total number at 340. The news reached this number by analyzing the publicly available data with open corporates and companies house. Comparing this number with the last year which witnessed closing down of 139 blockchain related companies reveals there is an increase of 144 percent which is quite large by any standards of comparison. The data also reveals that out of 340 companies, 200 were formed in the year 2017 and 60 percent of the total closure happened between the June and November 2018 alone, the most challenging time for the cryptocurrencies this year.
Meanwhile, there is no letup in the registration of newly formed blockchain companies as by the November 2018 this year, a total of 817 companies have registered as a blockchain venture. However, the report notes that it is for the first time the new blockchain companies are growing slower than the rate at which blockchain businesses are shutting down. And for the companies which are surviving, roundabout 50 percent have removed the reference of blockchain or Crypto from their business name.
Sky news rhetoric
The Sky news has blamed it all on the Bitcoin prices, and instead of analyzing the larger picture of cryptocurrency market and blockchain Technology, the news is of the opinion that it is because of the fall in the prices of Bitcoin that all these organizations are shutting down. The rhetoric of the news goes one step further and blame that because of devaluation in the Bitcoin prices, hundreds of investors in the UK who have invested in the Bitcoin are now going through severe pain and financial crisis, although the news fails to present even one tangible proof in this regard. If one compares the views of mainstream media about the devaluation in the overall Crypto market against the rhetoric of Sky News, it becomes evidently clear that the latter is indulging in empathy rhetoric rather than taking holistic viewpoint of financial market which has seen even the stocks of big organizations like Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Netflix losing more than $1 trillion in terms of their net worth.
