Reactions from the Philippines as Bitcoin surges above $10,000

An investment boon like no other, bitcoin crushes all detractors and finally reaches the $10,000 mark

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It finally happened.

Bitcoin has reached the US$10,000 mark. This happened despite continued optimism (and pessimism) in the cryptocurrency community.

As of press time, the Bitpinas Bitcoin Price index shows 1 BTC at US$10,165 or Php 512,956.

The road to Bitcoin US$10,000

The fact that we reach US$10,000 today is surprising for people who were discussing it in 2016. But events in the last few weeks (and the last few months) signify that it will only be a matter of time before it will happen. And it did.

Still using the Bitpinas Bitcoin Price Index, it was May 2017 when Bitcoin reached US$2,000 (roughly Php 100,000). We think that was the start of the climb. August 2017 when bitcoin reached US$3,000 and US$4,000.

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It stayed along those lines until in early October when it reached US$5,000. Late October for US$6,000. US$7,000 on November 2. $8,000 on November 19. $9,000 on November 27, and here we are at US$10,000. It’s so fast it probably caught some investors waking up to bad news (if they have not invested before they went to sleep) and good news (if they invested before sleeping!)

Reactions from the PH Bitcoin Community

We’ve been following key cryptocurrency people in the country and many have expressed enthusiasm over this news. Bloom Solutions founder Luis Buenaventura celebrated with a “cartoon salute for everyone who wished to go back in time to when Bitcoin was just $1”. Miguel Cuneta of SCI Ventures shared a SCI Blog post regarding what to do now that bitcoin’s risen to $10K. Their tips are the following:

  1. Don’t Panic.
  2. Invest only what you can afford to lose.
  3. Don’t believe anyone who tells you they can predict the price of bitcoin.
  4. Beware of Scammers.
  5. Do your own research and learn about the technology.

We highly suggest you take time to check out SCI’s blog post here.

Additionally, speaking of scammers, beware of them. We have covered the bitcoin text message scam in the past that you might want to check how it works and avoid it. Emerson Fonseca of NEM (which we covered here) mentioned that there’s probably no way that the bitcoin’s price will go down to US$1K at this point, and wondered about the lost opportunity for people who did not buy early. He shared this post from Coin Telegraph:

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Fonseca’s NEM and the people behind Loyal Coin are building a blockchain learning center to help people understand bitcoin and the blockchain more. (Read: Appsolutely and NEM will build a blockchain learning center in Manila).

The Philippine Government has had a very positive approach towards bitcoin and digital currencies as a whole. After the memorandum circular issued early this year, the BSP has granted licenses for Coins and SCI Ventures’ Rebittance Inc. Late this month, the Security and Exchange Commission has begun studying if bitcoin can be considered as a security. (Read: SEC Moves to Legalize ICOs, Treat Cryptocurrency as Securities)

What’s next for bitcoin

Now that it reached the 10,000 mark, where it will go from here? SCI mentioned how we should not treat forecasts as the truth. We also believe in that statement. Forecasts are just that – forecasts. And bitcoin is extremely volatile. Even with this 10K milestone, we still don’t know what will happen. It could be $12K tomorrow. It could go down to nothing. Wherever bitcoin continues from here, it’s a proof that digital cash is possible. And more importantly, the technology behind bitcoin – the blockchain – proves that decentralization is possible.

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