Even though everyone is entitled to their own opinion on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, it seems there is growing negative sentiment. More specifically, some experts are claiming Bitcoin will become irrelevant in the near future. That is a remarkable opinion, as the correlation between Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has never been more apparent.

Can Bitcoin Remain Relevant?

Given the issues we have seen with Bitcoin over the past few years, it is only normal that people begin to doubt the long-term vision of this cryptocurrency. Scaling issues, high transaction fees, and overall price volatility make this particular asset far less appealing than it should be. Other than speculators and investors, no one seems to be interested in Bitcoin as of right now.

Even so, there are some upcoming developments which may very well shape the future of Bitcoin. Scaling concerns are being addressed through the Lightning Network, even though critics are not too convinced that the technology will improve matters. Opening a payment channel still requires a hefty fee, and the technology is far from foolproof as of right now. This is why the testing phase of this technology is so important.

If Bank of America has anything to say about it, Bitcoin will not succeed in the future. The bank has claimed that Bitcoin’s “bubble has popped” and that there will be no recovery from this onslaught. With the Bitcoin price dropping by over 60% in the past four months, bearish sentiment seems more than warranted. Then again, things will improve at some point – that is what most people hope, anyway.

No one will deny that last year’s Bitcoin price growth was beyond imagination. This uptrend was quite spectacular to watch, but everyone could see that things would not last all that long. Investor sentiment has certainly changed in the first quarter of 2018, and April doesn’t seem to be going much better. Even so, cryptocurrency markets undergo a correction phase every single year.

While it is important to keep the bigger picture in mind at all times, there is a huge lack of institutional funds in the cryptocurrency markets right now. If this industry is to mature, according to lecturer and hedge fund director Gavin Brown, we need a serious influx of funds and institutional money from banks. Whether or not we will see that type of money enter the space in the near future remains to be determined.

Interestingly enough, Brown is a big fan of altcoins. It is certainly true that the cryptocurrency industry doesn’t need Bitcoin to be successful, but the world’s leading cryptocurrency is tightly linked to all other assets as of right now. If Bitcoin were to fail, all altcoins would lose value as well. Whether or not any altcoin can decouple from Bitcoin remains to be seen, though that seems a highly implausible scenario.