Could lighting be the start of the next big pump?
It’s been pretty crazy lately with all the volatility, but there’s I think that there’s a good chance that implanting Lightning could bring Bitcoin’s price up and then help stabilize it.
It’s been pretty crazy lately in terms of Bitcoin’s price, from China’s ICO Ban to JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon calling Bitcoin a fraud. While Bitcoin’s price has been hurting a little, the sudden change from a slow climb to extreme volatility has really been quite a ride. There are a lot of people who choose to “ride the wave” (including me) and I think there’s a light at the end of the tunnel: Lighting.
For those who don’t know, Lightning is an off chain transaction method that will cheapen mining costs and allow instant transactions for those who choose to utilize it (for those who don’t everything will continue on normally). For those who are interested in more of a read on Lightning, Bitcoin Magazine.com does a much better explanation of it and Medium.com has a good FAQ; so if you are interested in finding out all the details I would highly recommend checking both of those sites out.
So you might be thinking, “What does instant transactions do to help us?” So try to imagine paying for coffee with Bitcoin. If you tried you’d have to wait for a confirmation which would take a while (I know it’s quicker if you pay a ridiculously high fee, but even then it’s still a bit too slow to do a quick transaction), and if the cashier let you leave with zero confirmations then he or she would risk you double spending those Bitcoins. This is when the instant transactions come in. Now when it is easier to spend Bitcoin in person for normal everyday purchases people will start spending Bitcoin in normal everyday purchases, something that is nearly impossible to do at the moment unless you have time to wait around for it to be confirmed.
Once people do start spending Bitcoin on everyday transactions then it will get more mainstream. As more and more people start using it others will get curious about what Bitcoin is, and some of them may get start using it as well. In order to get Bitcoins you have to buy them, which drives the price up. Then, as the price keeps going up and Bitcoin gets a much better user base it will become much more stable then the volatile price we are seeing now; and with that less people in positions of fame will bash it and governments will probably be more reluctant to try to ban it, further increasing it’s price and stability.
My conclusion: once we get past this upcoming fork and the storm of hate calms down a bit I think that there’s a lot of potential for Bitcoin’s price to grow (perhaps even double or triple in price), especially with the potential of Lightning, which could allow mass adoption to become much more plausible.
Disclaimer: I’m no trader, and while I (the author) do believe what I wrote there’s always a chance that somebody is wrong, and I’m no exception. Please don’t rely solely on me for information or trading advice.
