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Bitcoin: What to expect in 2015

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Bitcoin had a wild ride over the past two years, with prices driven by speculation, investment and government regulation, and investors should expect nothing less in 2015.

"Although the swings in absolute value seem to be lower in 2014 than they were at the end of 2013, the volatility will likely remain for the next few years," Zennon Kapron, managing director of Shanghai-based market research firm KapronAsia told CNBC.

"Bitcoin is largely a binary outcome with it either being a tremendous success or reduced to something only used by enthusiasts. There is a tremendous amount of private equity and venture capital money being put into bitcoin to create new and compelling business models, but the only thing that will temper volatility is increased acceptance and usage," he said.

Bobby Lee, CEO and Co-Founder of China-based bitcoin trading platform BTC China agrees: "Volatility will be inherent for this new asset class. The reason is simple: It has a small circulation value now, but theoretically, with wide adoption, the circulation value should be 100x or 1,000x what it is today," he said. "The price would have to appreciate dramatically, and that would involve very high volatility for years to come."

An over 8,000 percent price increase over the course of 2013 to its peak of around $1,147 early that December put bitcoin on the map. In early 2014, bitcoin's fall was just as quick; concerns about increasing government regulation and a market bubble saw bitcoin's value halve in just a few months.

Bitcoin is currently trading around $337 on the BTC-e exchange.

Driving forces for 2015

Developments on three fronts have the potential to drive bitcoin higher in 2015: a better usage model, more companies using blockchain-based technology and increased usage for remittances.

"Bitcoin is a technology that still needs to find its use case," Kapron said. "The iPhone defined an industry by giving consumers and businesses something that they didn't know that they needed. For bitcoin, there's no proven killer app, although numerous players are working on it. We need a bitcoin usage model in 2015 that does something better today than we did yesterday, and we're just not there yet."

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Bitcoin: What to expect in 2015

Bitcoin stalls after hitting record prices in 2013

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A Bitcoin sign in a Toronto shop window in May, in better times. Photograph: Mark Blinch/Reuters

After skyrocketing to more than a thousand dollars in price late last year and attracting global attention, bitcoin, the leading digital currency, has stalled.

Figures obtained by Reuters show that while wallets cyberspeak for accounts are being created at a steady clip, many of them are empty.

Analysts also provided Reuters with data that shows liquidity in the cryptocurrency remains limited.

Bitcoin, a virtual currency created through a mining process where a computers resources are used to perform millions of calculations, has been hailed as revolutionary because of its lack of ties to a central bank and its potential as an alternative to credit cards for paying for goods and services.

However, the currencys volatility has slowed broader acceptance. The price of bitcoin has plummeted roughly 50% so far this year. It most recently traded at $356.26, down from a peak of $1,163 in December 2013.

Two of its primary appeals the lower transaction fees compared to credit cards and its use in cross-border transactions have not been enough to offset its ups and downs.

Until a unique application emerges that separates it from credit cards, online payments or other currencies, the expansion may remain slow, many market insiders said.

There has to be some motivation that would help this whole bitcoin system explode, like really good applications for consumers, said Jonathan Levin, a London-based digital currency consultant and co-founder of the Oxford Virtual Currency Group. At the moment, there isnt.

Last weeks second auction of bitcoins by the US marshals service, which showed a drastic drop in bidders from the first sale in June, demonstrated just how far bitcoin has fallen off the radar. The first auction attracted 45 unique bidders, with 63 bids, while the December sale showed just 11 buyers and 27 bids.

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Bitcoin stalls after hitting record prices in 2013

Is Bitcoin over? Join our chat

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Part of complete coverage on

(CNN) -- On Thursday December 18, we'll be hosting a Twitter live chat @CNNTech debating the future of Bitcoin with a panel of experts. Join us at 5pm GMT/12pm ET by tuning into the hashtag, #bitcoinfuture. We look forward to seeing you there!

Here's a look at our panel:

Jeffrey Robinson

Jeffrey is the author of "Bitcon: The Naked Truth about Bitcoin," and has been described as the world's 'leading financial crime author' by the British Bankers' Association.

In addition to books on dirty money, he has written a number of investigative non-fiction books, major biographies and half a dozen novels.

Daniel Mark Harrison

As editor of CoinSpeaker, Daniel reports on the latest developments in the world of cryptocurrencies.

He is a regular public speaker, and writes regularly on the issues and innovations affecting companies and markets around the world.

Adam Levitin

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Is Bitcoin over? Join our chat

The future of Bitcoin: live Twitter chat

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Part of complete coverage on

(CNN) -- On Thursday December 18, we'll be hosting a Twitter live chat @CNNTech debating the future of Bitcoin with a panel of experts. Join us at 5pm GMT/12pm ET by tuning into the hashtag, #bitcoinfuture. We look forward to seeing you there!

Here's a look at our panel:

Jeffrey Robinson

Jeffrey is the author of "Bitcon: The Naked Truth about Bitcoin," and has been described as the world's 'leading financial crime author' by the British Bankers' Association.

In addition to books on dirty money, he has written a number of investigative non-fiction books, major biographies and half a dozen novels.

Daniel Mark Harrison

As editor of CoinSpeaker, Daniel reports on the latest developments in the world of cryptocurrencies.

He is a regular public speaker, and writes regularly on the issues and innovations affecting companies and markets around the world.

Adam Levitin

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The future of Bitcoin: live Twitter chat

Bitcoin cited in Fords 2015 Global Consumer Trends and Futuring report

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Ford Motor Company has released a its Looking Further with Ford publication for 2015 [PDF link] that includes studies commissioned about the future of many different technologies as well as expected trends. Bitcoin made a debut with four mentions across the publication.

The publication is compiled by Sheryl Connelly from Global Consumer Trends and Futuring at Ford and the first mention of Bitcoin comes in comparison to digital currency apps such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet:

Out with the purse and the messenger bagtoday, people dont want to carry stuff, and increasingly, they dont need to. Bitcoin, Apple Pay and Google Wallet are displacing the need for physical wallets and money clips. The rise of subscription-based shopping services means we can avoid the store. Wearable gadgets and smartphone apps have dismantled the need for physical keys. With these technologies, consumers are able to pare necessities down to their essenceless baggage, more nimbleness. Across the globe, the advent of these technologies brings a transformation in the mechanics of how we pay, how and where we are marketed to, and who we trust with our most valuable information. Convenience is at a premium, and consumers are opting in for itbut at what price?

The second mention applies to a Philippines-based mobile wallet named coins.ph. The mobile wallet is cited as part of an emerging market seeking an audience of mobile users who do not have secure baking and need to send money to family and friends.

The unbanked as an audience for Bitcoin has been a long-time argument for the killer app and efficacy of Bitcoin. It has been mentioned that sectors that lack stable central baking and a proliferation of mobile devices may be excellent breeding grounds for Bitcoin services. As far back as 2012 this has been a long-term view of analysts looking at market trendsfor example, Africa still has a strong user base for this and since 2013 businesses have been courting that audience.

Digital wallet services such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet enable the wireless flow of digital currency and give consumers and merchants a chance to eschew hand-over-counter transactions for using mobile software. Bitcoin fits into this paradigm similarly because bitcoins can only be transferred digitally (although there are solutions that allow for paper wallets to transfer value) and as a result, Bitcoin-related wallets and apps dovetail nicely with mobile payment paradigms.

Connellys paragraph addressing Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and Bitcoin presents a reasonable expectation about what mobile users want from a digital currency experience, but ends with a question that suggests potential friction or problems.

The takeaway of the report from Ford isnt so much that report has nice things to say about Bitcoin, but that Bitcoin itself is being seen by a major corporation as a strong future trend that competes with established companies such as Apple and Google in a venue that both are attempting to carve out market share.

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Bitcoin cited in Fords 2015 Global Consumer Trends and Futuring report

Learn Bitcoin. What is Bitcoin? How to Bitcoin online learning course. – Video

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Learn Bitcoin. What is Bitcoin? How to Bitcoin online learning course.
Start now at http://bitcoinlearned.com Bitcoin Learning and Instructional Videos. Your complete online Bitcoin Course. Premium Memberships receive a Certificate of Completion after passing...

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Learn Bitcoin. What is Bitcoin? How to Bitcoin online learning course. - Video

BlockCypher Helps Merchants And Service Providers Enable Faster Bitcoin Transactions – Video

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BlockCypher Helps Merchants And Service Providers Enable Faster Bitcoin Transactions
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BlockCypher Helps Merchants And Service Providers Enable Faster Bitcoin Transactions - Video


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