In 2017 we saw the astonishing rise of Bitcoin and crypto that took the entire world by storm. People maxed out credit cards and even took mortgages against their house to buy more crypto. After this parabolic rise, a bear market has followed since the start of 2018. With many different cryptocurrency prices plummeting from their all time highs, sentiment amongst investors and traders has been grim. However, taking a step back there is a lot we can learn from a bear market.

 

1. The bear market gives us a chance to focus back on the technology:
   The general public is more aware of the price fluctuations of Bitcoin than they are the groundbreaking technology that makes Bitcoin’s existence possible. The underlying technology behind blockchain will change the world. Many are calling it the Web 3.0 and the influence it will have on all our lives over the coming years cannot be overstated. Innovation doesn’t wait for markets to turn green, we have seen tremendous technological advances and real world use cases appear this year. As some of the stronger projects survive they will come out leaner and more focused on building tech that will revolutionize the world. Which leads to the next point…
2. Bear markets weed out the bad projects:
   With every crypto token rising in value, 2017 became a gold rush for everyone and anyone to launch a token. This led to many initial coin offerings that had no real value or utility. A crypto bear market helps weed out these projects and stops others from entering the space.
3. Anyone going through the market cycle learns a lot.
   Everyone is a genius in a bull market. When people just have to buy and are rewarded with immediate returns, the incentive to learn is not there. When prices start falling people start asking why this is happening. Research into market dynamics starts intensifying. People start learning about technical analysis, fundamental analysis, and learn different ways to hedge and protect their funds to prepare themselves for the next bull market.

The need for stablecoins also becomes more apparent in bear markets. A trusted digital store of value that is not affected by market cycles is a very powerful tool.