The past couple of decades have been a mesmerizing platform for economic growth and change. Not only has the internet expanded the breadth of marketplaces, but it has facilitated new and previously unheard of economic changes. The most well-known of these is Bitcoin, a digital currency that exists solely on the web. Futurist Shervin Pishevar, along with other forward thinkers, have their finger on the pulse when it comes to advances in trade and investments, and Pishevar himself has had a keen eye for the Bitcoin space in particular.
What Is Bitcoin?
To understand the predictions and market fluctuations of Bitcoin, we first need to take a look at what Bitcoin is and the power behind it. In the simplest terms, Bitcoin is a currency that functions similarly to traditional currency, but exists and is traded solely online. This is called cryptocurrency, as every transaction is verified and anonymized via cryptography. Just like traditional currency, Bitcoin can be used to purchase goods and services in the online marketplace, including physical goods and services.
So what sets Bitcoin apart? For starters, the digital currency is decentralized; no single person or group controls Bitcoin. This is attractive to individuals with a diminishing amount of trust in traditional banks. Not only that, Bitcoin is a fairly anonymous currency that, when exchanged, has a digital “signature” of numbers rather than a name.
The transactions in Bitcoin are kept on a public digital “ledger,” a series of code blocks with digital signatures and coin amounts tied into them. These code blocks are added to a chain of blocks creating a blockchain and, within an hour, are verified by a volunteer. This verification process is called “mining,” and miners are paid for their work with newly minted coin.
Bitcoin has been cited as being similar to stocks in that you make a purchase of currency that’s value fluctuates and can be sold or traded. The fluctuation of Bitcoin’s worth is much more deviant than that of traditional currencies like the United States Dollar. As such, changes to Bitcoin’s worth are much harder to predict ahead of time.
The Bitcoin Rollercoaster
You’ve probably heard of Bitcoin, most likely due to the incredible rise and fall of the digital currency throughout the years. Its trade rate was first established at $1 per 1,309 coins, but at its peak in late 2017, Bitcoin’s worth was one coin to nearly $20,000 USD. No typos here, just some incredible numbers.
And then Bitcoin crashed. Within a few months, from the end of 2017 through the start of 2018, Bitcoin’s worth dropped from $20,000 to just $8,500. Not only that, but the cryptocurrency continued to decrease throughout the year as well.
The crash came as a shock to many people invested (and not-so-invested) in Bitcoin, but the downfall was actually predicted well beforehand by venture capitalist Shervin Pishevar.
Super Angel Shervin Pishevar
Investor and entrepreneur Shervin Pishevar is a big name in the world of economics and business. The Iranian-American has gained widespread attention not only for his outstanding awards from the US government, but because of his regularly on-point predictions about the economic market. However, to understand his ability to predict market changes with such precision, we need to take a look at his experience in the economy and in business.
At the age of 23, Pishevar decided to become an entrepreneur. He was a founder for WebOS (which eventually became HyperOffice) and co-founded Seges Capital by 2005. He was named founding president of Webs Inc. and, after multiple business deals, went on to be appointed GM at Mozilla. He later joined Menlo Ventures, and it’s through them that he fostered investments in Uber and Tumblr and seeded over 35 other companies. He left Menlo Ventures and seeded investments in companies like Airbnb, Postmates, and Dollar Shave Club. In 2014, Pishevar co-founded Virgin Hyperloop One to accept the challenge of a hyperloop, a form of high-speed transportation proposed by Elon Musk.
Pishevar is an activist for a worldwide and open internet access and often expresses support for immigrants chasing the American dream. Forbes ranked Pishevar in the top 100 venture investors four years in a row. Even President Obama praised Pishevar’s intelligence and experience; he was appointed to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and
Outstanding American by Choice recognition.
It’s clear from his two decades of experience in investing and business that Pishevar is extremely in tune with the future of technology and economic change. This vast amount of knowledge on the market and the public pulse has made Pishevar a super angel investor, an investor that seeds companies to help with startup, but with a much greater scope of knowledge about the playfield that their investments take place in. It’s clear through his investments that philanthropist Pishevar strongly believes in the digital marketplace and the future of technology.
Pishevar’s Predictions
Through the constant buzz surrounding Bitcoin, Pishevar has kept a close eye on the currency’s value and made some interesting predictions. If you weren’t around in early 2018 to witness his “tweet storm” on Twitter, you may have missed out on a few of these calculated predictions that Pishevar made. Not only did he make statements about the decline of the United States’s economy, but Bitcoin’s 2018 crash as well.
In early February of 2018, Shervin Pishevar went on a strange 21-hour tweet rant, making incredibly dismal predictions about the year’s economic adjustments. Pishevar starts the rant with the daunting “I expect 6000 point drop in aggregate in months ahead.” He went on to claim that Bitcoin’s crash, which had just started around this point, would continue down the path before plateauing at the $2,000-$5,000 range.
Bitcoin’s worth stabilized to just under $4,000 per coin at the end of 2018, almost directly in the middle of Pishevar’s predicted range.
The Present and Future of Bitcoin
From Bitcoin’s peak to its plateau at the end of last year, its worth has dropped by around 80%. It’s a far cry from its glory days, but there may be some hope for the cryptocurrency yet. Pishevar’s prediction for Bitcoin ended with the statement that after its stabilization, there would bea rise of worth over the next 24 months.
Because the number of new Bitcoins being pushed into circulation will cap at 21 million by 2040, the worth of Bitcoin is expected to grow. We may also see adoption of Bitcoin in traditional markets; San Francisco-based company called Coinbase aims to createdebit cards built for Bitcoin, allowing cardholders to spend Bitcoin anywhere VISA is accepted. It may just be wishful thinking, however.
In order to stay secure in future investments to trends like Bitcoin, it’s best to listen to the advice and predictions of educated investors like Shervin Pishevar, whose often exciting and unexpected tweet storms may just predict the rise of digital currency. His outlook for Bitcoin is positive in the long run, a hopeful prospect for an efficient international marketplace.
