A new study has found that Bitcoin has been declared ‘dead’ over 200 times in the past five years. However, the cryptocurrency appears to have survived the crypto winter and seems very much ‘alive’.
Data compiled by BitStacker reveals that there have been 219 ‘deaths’ for Bitcoin since 2018.
In order to qualify for a ‘death’, there must be published content from a person with a notable following or a site with substantial traffic who declares that Bitcoin is or will be worthless.
Such trends are not just a recent phenomenon. There have been 464 obituaries for Bitcoin since the original cryptocurrency was launched in 2009, including one reporting of the crypto’s death in 2010.
Bitcoin enjoys fewer deaths in the crypto winter
Interestingly, the study notes that 2022 has so far seen a 49% decrease in the reports of Bitcoin’s demise. The last report of Bitcoin’s death came on October 19, 2022 and this brought the total number of deaths for the year up to 24, compared to 47 Bitcoin deaths in 2021.
Bitcoin has experienced a turbulent year with its value dropping from over $64,000 in November 2021 to below $19,000 in June 2022.
Such a dramatic fall in value has not been matched by the number of reports of Bitcoin’s death, perhaps suggesting that the cryptocurrency’s inherent volatility is becoming less newsworthy.
In contrast, 2017 saw the greatest number of reports of Bitcoin’s death with 124 significant figures declaring the cryptocurrency as being worthless. This was a 343% rise on the previous year, and it marked 2017 as being a pivotal year for Bitcoin.
While the cryptocurrency broke all of its existing records by peaking near $20,000 earlier in 2017, it all came crashing down on December 27 when the value of Bitcoin slumped by 45% to fall below $11,000.
The number of reports of Bitcoin’s death also tends to fall when the cryptocurrency enjoys a period of relative stability. For example, 2020 was a year where the value of Bitcoin experienced a sustained growth in value from just over $7,000 in January to over $26,000 in December.
Such impressive growth was mirrored by a 66% fall in the number of reported Bitcoin deaths, although 14 people still went on record to state that the cryptocurrency was worthless.
Language used when reporting a Bitcoin death
Commentators have used a variety of language to describe the passing of Bitcoin, and it provides an insight into how the cryptocurrency is being perceived.
Many articles have likened Bitcoin to a Ponzi scheme. This is a kind of fraud where people are lured into investing into a non-existent enterprise, and profits are paid back from more recent investors.
However, some articles have taken more of a poetic slant stating that Bitcoin is ‘thin air’ or ‘a traumatic memory,’ while the words ‘scam’ and ‘fraud’ tend to form the main discourse of the reports.
By far the most aggressive are those articles that suggest that, ‘All crypto should die in a fire,’ and that, ‘Crypto is like a venereal disease.’ The ferocity of the language used was not recorded in the frequency of Bitcoin-recorded deaths.
But while the language used for reporting Bitcoin’s death has become more expressive, the original cryptocurrency is still very much alive.
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