Some in the Bitcoin space claim to only be in it for the tech, maintaining that bitcoin’s price doesn’t matter much to them. 

Whether they’re just posturing or whether they really mean it, they’re overlooking a major factor that keeps the Bitcoin network secure and healthy — the price of bitcoin.

Lyn Alden did an exemplary job describing why bitcoin’s price matters in the follow post:

Because money is a network good.

Liquidity feeds more liquidity. And eventually broad enough liquidity feeds stability, which makes it more usable. Which then feeds more liquidity.

It is similar to why we are here on this platform whether or not we like the recent owner.…

— Lyn Alden (@LynAldenContact) October 24, 2023

Her main points included:

• The more liquid bitcoin becomes, the less volatile and more usable as money it becomes.
• Price is a market signal: five years of stagnant price action would send a negative signal to the market about bitcoin’s value.
• If bitcoin (a finite asset) was designed as a counter to fiat (an infinite asset), its price should increase as more liquidity is injected into the system (i.e., as more fiat is printed or more debt is created).

I’d like to help further Lyn’s argument by including the following points:

• The security of the Bitcoin network depends in large part on the amount of people or institutions that mine bitcoin. As the block subsidy decreases every four years, bitcoin has to continually increase in price for miners to remain incentivized to mine the asset.
• Bitcoin’s price adds to its legitimacy: the closer bitcoin’s market cap gets to the market cap of gold, the more investors view the assets as comparable.
• An increase in bitcoin’s price incentivizes holders to continue to do things to keep the network healthy, like running nodes, and to defend the network against its detractors. After all, as Jeff Booth says, “We Are Bitcoin,” and its success depends on us.

So, if you were pumped when bitcoin’s price hit a new all-time high this week, good for you.

Even if you weren’t necessarily thinking about the points made above as bitcoin’s price reached new highs, it’s also okay to simply be happy about having greater purchasing power.

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This is your captain speaking: Due to regulatory uncertainties regarding who will win the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday, Bitcoin’s price has fallen back to $70,000 under further notice — please HODL.

Okay now past the cringe, Bitcoin’s price nearly hit an all time high of above $73,770 earlier this week, falling just $200 short around $73,500. As I noted last week, markets had been pricing in a Trump victory, which would see his positive policies around Bitcoin and other financial markets be put into place.

Unfortunately though, just 4 days out from the election, there’s a feeling in the air that Kamala Harris may still win as she overtakes Trump in the odds of winning swing states Wisconsin and Michigan.

This race will be much closer than what the markets have predicted the last few weeks.

If Trump wins, many are expecting BTC to rise due to his favorable policies he has promised to implement. Bitcoin would be poised to grow significantly and even $800 billion bank Standard Chartered predicted $125,000 prices if Republicans can sweep the election.

If Harris wins on the other hand though, things could be different. Due to her having basically no policies around Bitcoin (let alone any good ones) voters can only assume she is going to continue the Democrats’ 4-year long attack on the Bitcoin industry.

It is pretty amazing that there isn’t even a public record, video or written, of her saying the word Bitcoin before. $700 billion wealth manager Bernstein said earlier this September that if Harris wins, the price of Bitcoin could drop to as low as $30,000.

I think guessing $30k Bitcoin prices is pretty hyperbolic, and that it won’t drop that much if she wins. But I do believe it would severely delay hitting a new all time high until at least next year. I would love to be wrong on that though.

As we head into this election, regardless of the outcome, I will be HODLing my bitcoin. While the price may fluctuate up or down heavily in the short term, it is still the best asset to own at times of uncertainty. And this is a time of uncertainty that will dictate massively the future of this industry in the US.

With that all said, a new all time high has been postponed until further notice — please HODL.

This article is a Take. Opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

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The network’s monthly average hashrate surged to a record high, the report said.



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