This is an opinion editorial Adam Taha, host of the Bitcoin podcast in Arabic and contributor to Bitcoin Magazine.
The current bear market is on everyone’s mind. Doom and gloom are in every chart and metric. However, there is much to be excited about for bitcoin HODLers and followers. Below is a list of exciting things happening in bitcoin.
bipartisan bitcoin bill
A bipartisan bill was introduced by Republican Senator Cynthia Loomis and Democrat Senator Kristen Gillibrand and will most likely be voted on next year (by the 118th Congress). The bill has been long-awaited as it will ease many uncertainties for US investors and corporate treasuries.
power finance
A few days ago, Bitcoin’s Lightning Network capacity reached an all-time high of 4,005 bitcoins, a 6% month-on-month increase. Soon, the world will get to learn and use Lightning Finance (LiFi) in a big way, especially with the launch of stablecoin transfers on Lightning. Sending bitcoin and receiving stablecoins, or sending stablecoins on Lightning and getting groceries delivered to your door, will put bitcoin into high gear. This development is positioning the Lightning Network and LiFi to displace Visa and other payment networks in a few years.
taproot support
Back in November 2021, the taproot upgrade was launched and given the green light by nodes around the world. So far, we have over 75% of nodes supporting it. Taproot addresses, signatures, and scripting are essential to uncovering the security and innovation we need to start onboarding companies, institutions and governments at large. We will soon reach 100% node support. This is a massive development to be excited about.
Taproot Asset Representation Overlay (Tarot):
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and other innovations are coming to the Lightning Network. Not only stablecoins, smart contracts, digital services, collectibles, tokenized securities and any fixed-price asset, but myriad other innovations. Bitcoin is a payment network that only allows bitcoin for settlement. Anything created or transferred on the base layer of bitcoin is settled in bitcoin. In other words, this is how we hyperbitcoin the world and every fiat currency in existence. Today, the exchange rate of bitcoin is most often settled in US dollars on exchanges, but with the tarot, everything will be settled in bitcoin, including USD. It is a financial revolution based on sound money.
SEC Regulation
We’ll see more regulations from the Securities and Exchange Commission throughout this year and possibly next year. what is it Good for? The SEC views bitcoin as a non-security (commodity) asset. According to the SEC and its chairman, Gary Gensler, the regulatory status of bitcoin is clearer than that of all other cryptocurrencies.
BTC market dominance
In January 2020, there were approximately 2,400 cryptocurrencies. This number increased to 4,155 (73% increase) in 2021. From January last year to date, there have been 19,930 cryptocurrencies, or an astonishing 380% increase. Still, this is a non-issue for bitcoin and bitcoin’s market dominance dictates where the real value lies. In January 2021, when there were 4,155 cryptos in the market with a total market cap of $958 billion, bitcoin had a market dominance of 68%. Today, bitcoin has a market dominance of 47% against 19,930 cryptocurrencies with a total market cap of $908 billion. By the next halving (early 2024), bitcoin’s market dominance is likely to comfortably exceed 60% with many more cryptocurrencies and certainly a larger market cap. This shows the true value, flexibility and dominance of bitcoin.
BUY AND HODL. The current market conditions are temporary.
This is a guest post by Adam Taha. The opinions expressed are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.