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The queen of the first quarter of 2020 is Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV). This has been revealed by a CoinMarketCap report that sums up Q1 2020, the first three months of this year.
In the 16-page report, several interesting aspects have been examined, covering not only the prices of the assets but also the profile of visitors to the website.
This report takes into account not only the crypto markets but also the traditional markets. Indeed, one of the first tables shows the trend of the various assets since the beginning of the year. In this ranking, it is clear that from January 2nd to March 31st Bitcoin has lost 10% of its value, from 7,194 dollars to 6,437 dollars. It is not the worst asset, silver lost 20%, almost as much as the S&P 500 which lost 19%.
In contrast, gold gained from $1,520 an ounce to $1,620, while palladium and the iShares 7-10 Treasury Bond ETF index both rose by almost 20%. According to CoinMarketCap, these fluctuations are due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic that led many investors to sell and close their positions in search of liquidity.
Although Bitcoin has suffered, there are other cryptocurrencies that seem to have benefited from this particularly convulsive market phase. For example, Bitcoin SV (BSV) which in three months saw its market capitalization increase by 76% from $1.75 billion to $3.08 billion.
The other Bitcoin fork, Bitcoin Cash, gained about 10% market cap. Bitcoin instead lost 5.21% or about 13 billion dollars, reducing its market share from 130 to 117 billion dollars.
In terms of prices, Bitcoin SV seems not to have been affected by the crisis. In three months its value has increased from 92.3 dollars to 165.4 dollars, an increase of 70%. This ranking is almost mirroring that of the market capitalization, and also sees well-positioned Leo (LEO), Chainlink (LINK), Tezos (XTZ) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which record gains between 7 and 27%.
CoinMarketCap visitors
The Coinmarketcap report highlights an interesting fact. In the first three months of the year, there was a drastic drop in users from China. In fact, the countries that most use CMC, recently purchased by Binance, include the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom, which are permanently at the top of this ranking. China moves from 13th to 24th position.
This is not surprising as China has been one of the countries most affected by the Coronavirus emergency, just like South Korea, the other country which loses three positions in this ranking, going from 16th to 19th. Curiously enough, Italy and Spain, among the countries equally badly afflicted by the pandemic, both advance by two positions and move up to 16th and 13th, respectively.
Among the data certainly worthy of note, is the clear growth in the female public, which increased by 43.3% compared to the previous quarter. In particular, this growth is recorded in Venezuela, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Indonesia, Portugal, Argentina and especially Romania and Greece.
Young users are also growing. Specifically, the range of those aged between 18 and 24 years increased by 46%. The growth of the “youth group” in this case is driven by Pakistan, India, Colombia, United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Australia and Nigeria. The group of users over 65 also grew by 41%.
Conclusions
According to the report, this particular time of year has put Bitcoin’s narrative as digital gold to the test. Conversely, the February collapse and the March meltdown make BTC emerge more as a risky asset rather than a store of value. However, the report says:
“Yet, how far should one read into this incident? The market turmoil triggered by COVID19 would be considered an anomaly to the whole financial system as all assets uniformly sold off, a testament to the panic seen in markets”.
According to CoinMarketCap, however, other assets are emerging strongly, such as Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, Tezos, Chainlink and Leo, which have proven to have withstood the impact of the collapse more effectively.
Finally, the report concludes, the blockchain revolution has just begun:
“It is still too early to foretell the role and fate of crypto, as it could hold different meaning to different groups of people, depending on the economic and social climates in which they live. As our user data has shown, crypto continues to see a growing interest from young (and baby boomer) demographics across the world. It is with caution and excitement that we encourage everyone to continue to keep an active pulse on the evolution of crypto”.