Cryptocurrencies in crisis: will only Bitcoins remain?

Despite the recovery that took place at the end of June, times are still tough for cryptocurrencies. About a year and a half after the speculative bubble burst (since then the market has fallen by 60%), and after a series of scandals culminating in the bankruptcy of FTXnow it’s the turn of the serious accusations that the Sec (more or less equivalent to our Consob) made a few weeks ago against the two largest cryptocurrency trading platforms in the world: Binance and Coinbase.

The most serious situation seems to be that of Binanceaffected by 13 charges including that of having improperly managed client funds and having lied to the institutions. Coinbase instead it is accused of trading cryptocurrencies similar to what in the Anglo-Saxon world are called securities (financial instruments such as shares and bonds) without having the credentials to do so.

Are cryptocurrencies similar to stocks? According to the Sec, the answer is positive, because (as explained by Bloomberg) “the success of these coins depends on the work and decisions of those who put them on the market. As is the case with stocks, the creators of these cryptocurrencies often raise money for their projects by selling the coins to investors and through some form of financing. known as the Initial Coin Offeringwhich even ordinary cryptocurrency enthusiasts can participate in”.

As demonstrated by the age-old dispute between the Sec and Ripple, the company that issues the XRP coin, it is an issue that has long gripped the world of cryptocurrencies. An issue that, if and when it is resolved by the authorities, could put this sector in front of a dilemma: accept a rigid financial regulation (which it has always opposed) or vanish.

In short, if to the scandals that, even today, regularly affect this world is added the growing regulatory uncertaintyit is understandable why there is still a lot of distrust among the more institutional investors regarding the future of cryptocurrencies.

There is another important aspect: how many projects related to blockchain-based coins Have they shown that they have concrete potential and that they are not just a speculative flash in the pan? 5 years after the aforementioned ICO fever and having sobered up from decentralized finance and more generally from Web3, none of the thousands of cryptocurrencies that exist today have yet managed to have a concrete impact on the world.

However, all this does not seem to concern the oldest of digital currencies: i bitcoinswhich have gained around 15% of their value in the last month, while a cryptocurrency like BNB, issued by Binance, has lost more than 20% in the same time frame (and the same goes for cardan, Solana and many others). Why do bitcoins go up while almost all other coins, despite the very recent rise, suffer?

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First of all, Bitcoins are one of the very few cryptocurrencies that are not accused of being equivalent to stocks. Time ago, authorities appear to have decided that Bitcoin is the digital equivalent of a commodity like gold or oil. Bitcoins, on the other hand, are not tied to any company and have no leader (especially since Satoshi Nakamoto, their unknown creator, has long since vanished into thin air).

As also supported by companies such as Goldman Sachsthe first cryptocurrency represents a sort of digital gold: a safe haven asset that is bought in the hope that the value will rise, but whose success does not directly depend (as explained Carol Goforth, a law professor) from the “actions of managers and directors”. Precisely this interpretation protects Bitcoins from the supervisory authorities and gives them a clear and defined function.

In short, unlike Nakamoto’s hopes, Bitcoins will not change finance and they will not replace traditional currencies. However, the oldest of the cryptocurrencies seems to be the only one that can sleep peacefully.