For my last post of 2018, I thought I would sum up what is taking place and what we can expect going forward.

In the world of cryptocurrency, 2018 was the Year of FUD.  There is no denying that. 

Throughout the entire year, we saw the mainstream media pound the living daylights out of this industry.  At the same time, we had the actions on the regulators, which were heavily covered by the media casting a dark shadow over everything.  The result was millions of people who might have looked at cryptocurrency were scared away.

Of course, we can couple this with the experience of millions who lost their shirts with a decline of anywhere from 70%-90% on most tokens.  Those who bought a year ago are in a world of hurt.

Personally, I feel this was all part of a plan on the part of the elite.  They control the message the media delivers and the rich are very good at manipulating things.  This is something that Wall Street excels at.  A few hundred billion dollar market is nothing for them to move.  And move they did.

As we saw prices collapsing, the media coverage only got fiercer.  Whether it was Bloomberg with their regular reports of how Bitcoin was going to zero or Michelle Lee on CNBC spouting off how cryptocurrency was not legitimate, the coordinated effort was effective.  

Prices could not catch a break.  The downward pressure was intense.

Which brings us to the point now.  As we enter 2019, what does the landscape look like?

![image.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmeAoTmfvPyNE1kimfEE3S7pxZFeSpaQpmoN17tA7cTXZC)
<center>[Source](http://technewsi.altervista.org/omg-lol-ssl-fud)</center>

Based upon a couple of instances, I am proclaiming the FUD of 2018 over.  My reasoning is not because 2018 is ending as much as the FUD is going away.  Remember, Wall Street likes to manipulate and it is my belief they are flipping the switch.  Time to turn things around.

The mainstream is starting to crack.  In the past few days, there were two news reports that caught my attention.

We first have one of the leading cryptocurrency bashers, Bloomberg, who put up this interview on it's site.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2018-12-30/bitcoin-on-path-to-be-better-store-of-value-than-gold-lou-kerner-says-video

This is a very pro-Bitcoin interview.  For those who did not watch it, basically the message is Bitcoin has the potential to replace gold as the store of value.  Even if it does not eclipse the yellow metal in market cap, there still is a great upside.

We are seeing this from Bloomberg?  They have not said anything supportive about Bitcoin all year.  

The we have this from Time.

http://time.com/5486673/bitcoin-venezuela-authoritarian/

There are few publications that are more mainstream than Time magazine.  

Here we see a mainstream outlet talking about the benefits of Bitcoin and "Why It Matters For Freedom".

WTF?  Did it really say that?

This is a huge reversal of what we witnessed throughout 2018.  Bitcoin as a tool to combat authoritarian regimes?  Who would have thought we see that outside Medium or Hackernoon?  Yet here it is.

What is interesting about the Time article is that all governments are authoritarian.  The nations that espouse democracy are not about freedom and liberty for their citizens.  The governments walk all over their populations. 

This means that Bitcoin matter for all citizens of the world, not just the ones who are in totalitarian situations that are obvious.

>Take, for example, remittances. After ravaging the domestic economy, the Venezuelan regime is now taking a cut of money coming in from abroad. New laws force Venezuelans to go through local banks for foreign transactions, and require banks to disclose information on how individuals get and use their money.

Isn't this just precious?  It reminds me of Cyprus deal where each bank account got a nice haircut.  

Of course, I do not need to promote the benefits and virtues of cryptocurrency to the readers here.  The point is we are starting to see a reversal from the mainstream media.  I do not believe this is an accident.  

2019 will not see the FUD continue.  In fact, I expect that we will see a lot more stories start to emerge in the first quarter that are similar to this.  They will promote the immutability aspect of cryptocurrency along with the ability to bypass authoritarian regimes.  

That said, I am not going to say the drop in price is over.  To start, none of this is financial advice.  Secondly, markets can continue is the direction of a trend longer than anticipated.  Changing the message is only the first step.  The reversal of the markets could be months behind.

Nevertheless, without the headwind presented by the mainstream, 2019 will be a banner year for cryptocurrency.  The underlying blockchain technology went through major development over the past 12 months.  While prices were collapsing, innovation was "mooning".  Thus, we are looking at a technology that is getting close to being able to solve real world problems.

In closing the year out, I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year.  

2019 is going to be a lot of fun .

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