Consensus is probably one of the largest annual conferences in the cryptocurrency space. With more than 4000 people in attendance and a large number of people coming in to conduct sessions and discussions about crypto trends of the past year. It is conducted annually by leading cryptocurrency news website Coindesk and is attended by all bigwigs of the industry.

Historically, every year the price of Bitcoin increases during the conference by a significant amount. This rise is and has been attributed to a large number of big names and market influencers in attendance who in turn lend a part of their credibility to the market which in turn becomes a reason for people to invest. However, this year’s Consensus broke that pattern. For the first time in four years, the price of Bitcoin has not gone up and has, rather, gone down, failing the predictions of Fundstart expert Tom Lee and others. And everyone wants to know why.

This year at Consensus, more than 8000 people were in attendance among them were speakers like Zooko Wilcox from Zcash and Coin Centre’s Neeraj Agarwal. Unlike the years before, this year also saw a lot of stock market tycoons looking to enter the space since the bull in 2017.

Bitcoin, since its gigantic surge to almost $20,000 USD in December, has become somewhat center of attraction once again. But for the first time since its inception, it was seen in a good one. A lot of business skeptics changed their positions and decided to invest and a lot of endorsements came Bitcoin’s way.

The price fall after this year’s Consensus meet is being attributed to just that. Endorsements from institutional investors. In the first quarter of the year, Bitcoin was given NASDAQ’s blessing by providing support to a cryptocurrency exchange called Gemini and NASDAQ’s CEO went on to say that the exchange is open to trading in cryptocurrency as soon as the regulation is clear.

Also during the first quarter of the year, big family names like Rockefeller and Soros also did a double down on their stance on Bitcoin and invested big bucks in the cryptocurrency. So much so that Bitcoin’s recovery in late January was attributed to these two business families.  

Essentially, the difference between the last and this year’s Consensus is the fact that there is a lot more interest from institutional investors and seasoned stock market expert investors. Which means that these institutions and investors come with and bring well-tested practices and policies of investing into the rather volatile crypto market that make sure that their investment doesn’t cause sudden, short-lived spikes in value.

Another reason that sudden spikes aren’t happening now is that people are a lot more experienced in all things bitcoin and it is also a whole lot more expensive to buy on a whim, making sure that the price is somewhat steady.

Experts are now saying that this market scenario was what was expected and that the after-effects of Consensus will gradually show. And the sluggish response of Bitcoin’s value is purely market manipulation and investment tactics that legacy investors and institutions are applying to the crypto space. But only time will tell whether the post-Consensus price spike is a thing of the past, or is just changing forms and is still very much prevalent.  

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Ramaa Mohan