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Key Takeaways:
Despite multiple crashes and periods of severe volatility, Bitcoin has repeatedly recovered, setting new all-time highs. The phrase “Bitcoin is dead” has been popular in times of market downturns, but history suggests it’s not accurate.
Major Crashes and Recoveries:
2011 (Mt Gox attack): Bitcoin’s price dropped from $32 to $0.01 due to a hack, but it recovered shortly after, Mt Gox did not.
2013 (China’s crackdown): Bitcoin reached $1151 before falling by 51% following China’s ban on cryptocurrency trading by banks. It remained volatile for two years before entering the 2017 bull run.
2017 (Market-wide crash): Bitcoin surged to $19,497 before crashing by 30%. It struggled throughout 2018, dropping by over 80%, alongside other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum.
2020 (COVID-19 crash): Bitcoin’s price dropped by 40% but rebounded quickly due to increased demand for digital assets during the pandemic.
2022 (FTX collapse): Bitcoin was hit hard again, dropping to $16,000 due to the FTX scandal but has since recovered.
Current Trends: As of 2024, Bitcoin has reached a new all-time high of over $73,000. It has been trading between $58,000 and $70,000, showing stability and a potential upward trend as the year progresses.
Bitcoin’s Future: If Bitcoin can maintain its current trajectory without sharp corrections, it could reach new highs before the end of the year.
“Bitcoin is dead” hit an all-time high search volume in 2022. The market was a flutter with talks of an unrecoverable crash with thousands losing their funds with consistent declines in crypto values.
Two years later, Bitcoin saw an all-time price record. Looking at the prices and crashes of Bitcoin, the ebbs and flows of the coin have steadied, broken, risen and steadied again. One thing seems to stand: While “Bitcoin is dead” is a searched term, it might not ever ring true.
June 2011, the Mt Gox attack
Just two years after Bitcoin was launched, it suffered its first major crash. In the first half of the year, it surged from $2,00 to $32,00 gaining attention to the industry from early adopters. At the time, Bitcoin was predominantly traded on Mt Gox, the only exchange that facilitated easy peer-to-peer transactions. After its initial surge, it had fallen to around $17.50, a value far below the $32,00 at which it had been trading, but not the worst of what it was to see.
On 19th June, Mt Gox was attacked and the hack caused Bitcoin to fall to a value of just $0.01. The price of Bitcoin fell 99.9% in just 24 hours, looking at the worst crash the market has seen still to this day. It was a flash crash and the value of Bitcoin returned to some form of stability not long after. Mt Gox, however, did not recover and still has a reputation for nearly being the death of the leading cryptocurrency.
December 2013, China’s first crackdown
In 2013, Bitcoin trading had taken off to a certain degree and it was the first time the cryptocurrency was tracked by any sort of software. On December 3rd 2013, Bitcoin saw its all-time high trading price at the time of $1151.17, a massive 475% increase from the previous month’s value of $200. Not even three weeks later, China placed its first major crackdown on cryptocurrency and banned all banks in the country from allowing trading. A major sell-off occurred and Bitcoin’s price fell by 51% to just $559 on December 18th.
A month later, it had regained value to see a nearly $1000 price tag but it spent the next two years in extreme volatility. Trading between $200 and $650 from March 2014 to June 2016, when it finally saw a turn, which then headed into the bull run of 2017.
December 2017, the crash of the entire market
In previous crashes, Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency in the market – making it the only collateral to a crash. Ethereum entered the picture in 2015, marking the rise of altcoins.
Bitcoin had a fantastic 2017 – mostly. From January 2017 to December, Bitcoin gained over 2152% from trading around $870 at the beginning of the year to rise and see its all-time high at the time of $19,497 on December 15th. Not even a week later, Bitcoin tanked by nearly 30%, crashing to just over $13,800. From there, the leading cryptocurrency kept struggling to regain any sort of strength for all of 2018. By February 2018, it had fallen below $7,000 and it spent most of 2018 trading below $10,000, 50% of its all-time high. In December 2018, Bitcoin was looking at a trading value of less than $3,300; over 80% less than it had the year before.
Ethereum suffered the same fate, falling from trading around $1,448 in December 2017 to a value of just over $85 a year later; crashing down by 93% from its record high at the time.
The initial coin offering (ICO) boom from June 2017 made things worse, and the market crashing brought the death of cryptocurrency projects that would not be able to recover. Investors who had given their money to support projects in need of funding in exchange for the project’s tokens were left holding value-less tokens, leaving a sour taste in many investor’s mouths.
It would take another two years for trust to regain in the cryptocurrency market, and in 2021 Bitcoin’s price began to see some major gains again. But that’s not before another crash rocked the market.
March 2020, the beginning of a global pandemic
The global crisis emerged with the rise of Covid-19 cases across the world. With national lockdowns, the closing of borders, and uncertainty across sectors and industries, the fear was rife in all markets – with cryptocurrency being no exception.
With investors pulling from stock, equities, and commodities, global economics were left in shambles – quickly. Risk-on assets took an unsurprising knock and Bitcoin’s price fell in the course of 24 hours by nearly 40%, trading from just under $8,000 to see a trading value of $4,975.
This crash, however, represented one of the least impactful declines in terms of the time it took to recover. Investors took to the digital asset soon after, as a result of a newfound need for easy cross-border payments and hygiene compared to cash. Within a month, Bitcoin was back to trading above $8,000 and the increase kept going on a steady trajectory. In January 2021, Bitcoin tagged above $40,000 for the first time and nine months later saw its all-time high (currently of all time) of $69,044.77.
November 2021 – January 2022
In November 2021, Bitcoin saw its all-time high value and then the bears came in.
Falling from $69,044.77 to just above $35,000 in two months, Bitcoin’s fall from a high point in contrast to previous years doesn’t look so intense. The market took a long time to recover from this, reaching $64,000 only again in November 2022.
January 2022
In November 2021, Bitcoin saw its all-time high value and then the bears came in. Falling from $69,044.77 to just above $35,000 in two months, Bitcoin’s fall from a high point in contrast to previous years doesn’t look so intense. The market is still very much in the midst of a crypto crash, with Bitcoin currently trading at 71% off its record high. If the market continues to hold, we won’t be seeing the same aggressive drop as the very first flash crash in 2013 or the extensive crypto crash in 2017, when a large part of the market was wiped out.
November 2022, the crash of FTX
The plummet in 2022 continued and as Bitcoin was showing recovery signs, the news of the collapse of FTX and the scandal of Sam Bankman-Fried broke. Bitcoin’s price was knocked further and it was hovering around $16,000. At the time, the last time Bitcoin had been this low was in 2020.
Late 2022 – Present: A strong rebound
In the last 18 months, with one Bitcoin halving in April 2024, Bitcoin has recovered back to peak high prices to break the all-time high in March 2024, reaching over $73,000.
Over the past few months, the price has been gently rolling in a price range between $58,000 and over $70.000. Leading into the final quarter of the year, Bitcoin is on a positive trajectory with rising prices since August. If it can maintain the upward price without a sharp correction, we might see a new all-time high before the year is out.