Bitcoin is not dead says crypto trader Brian Kelly

Surprisingly, the lows might actually be a good thing for bitcoin, Kelly said.

“When we start to declare a funeral and things get really horrible, sentiment is approaching the lows,” he said. “So hopefully, we’ll use that funeral bug to say, ‘Hey. You know what? That was near the lows.'”

And, multiple exchange hacks, including the recent hack on South Korea’s Bithumb, forces regulators to make changes.

On Friday, a Japanese financial regulator ordered several cryptocurrency exchanges to improve business conditions to prevent future money laundering.

“Short run it’s going to be a little tough, because they’re stopping new accounts from coming in,” Kelly said of Japan’s Financial Services Agency led bitFlyer, the country’s largest crypto exchange.

Case in point: bitcoin fell from around $6,400 to around $6,081 after the news broke Friday morning.

Bitcoin’s Friday performance

_{Source: CoinDesk}

But Kelly said this is not a bad thing long term.

“They’re cleaning up the system. They’re making sure it’s more robust. Making sure it’s better for people,” he said.

In addition, Mt. Gox, the Japan’s bitcoin exchange that shut down in 2014 after a security breach, said it might start paying back investors as early as next year. Kelly this will likely happen in the first quarter of 2019.

“Everyone thinks all of the sudden there’s going to be a wave of selling.” But he said, it’s “not happening now.”

Instead, he said traders should think long term about cryptocurrencies and less about investing in ICOs.