Cryptocurrency venture capitalist Chris Burniske believes the masses have “entirely forgotten” about digital assets, with his comments coming on the back of a prolonged bear market. Now, seasoned traders, institutional investors, and technological experts are leaving the crypto arena.

Goodbye Bitcoin

A year after Bitcoin was priced at $20,000 on some exchanges and the cryptocurrency market cap crossed $800 billion, crypto-evangelists are feeling the brunt of an over-bullish, highly-speculative, and hyped market. Many made predictions of a $50,000 bitcoin at the end of 2018, only to watch plunging valuations of bitcoin and all crypto-assets, alongside comments from skeptics about being right all along.

The hype saw first-time traders enter the markets with traditional investors searching for the next Amazon stock. But, the short-lived bull run drew up extreme discrepancies in the broader cryptocurrency market, starting with the lack of robust product development and usage, absence of fundamental adoption, and over-priced tokens.

Burniske, who runs crypto-investment and advisory fund Placeholder VC, took to Twitter to express his recent interactions with people initially interested in cryptocurrencies but losing favor since.

The mainstream has almost entirely forgotten about #bitcoin again. — Chris Burniske (@cburniske) January 5, 2019

He notes “decision makers,” presumably referring to governments and regulatory watchdogs, have begun to gain a basic understanding of the crypto space. Yet, a majority of the populace finds no use for digital assets and have forgotten the disruption, including those who bought in December 2017 and are left with a “bad taste in their mouth.”

But the mainstream? For most, #crypto is still not relevant to their life. If they didn’t invest in 2017, they’ve forgotten. If they did, chances are they have a bad taste in their mouth and want to forget. — Chris Burniske (@cburniske) January 5, 2019

Burniske points out development in the cryptocurrency space is comparable to the aftermath of the bitcoin crash in 2015, which saw the pioneering coin drop from over $1,000 to under $200 from December 2014 to January 2015. At the time, unfazed developers and engineers continued to build their iterations of the decentralized economy, leading to technological growth in the blockchain and crypto space untethered to synchronized price action.

I don’t say this to dishearten us. Quite the opposite. We remain in the “installation phase” of #crypto (image: https://t.co/8oOws39TaS), where the primary users are developers & investors. There is so much left to build and promise to be realized, which is massively exciting! pic.twitter.com/9pfy5MmJ1k — Chris Burniske (@cburniske) January 5, 2019

Meanwhile, Reddit users seem to agree with Burniske’s claims on the masses forgetting cryptocurrencies. A thread posted on Jan. 5 asked users about their understanding and opinion of Bitcoin, revealing much of the public outside r/cryptocurrency and r/bitcoin remains oblivious to the developments taking place.

One Reddit user called out the salesmen-like tactics of Bitcoin evangelists trying to persuade others to purchase crypto-assets; mostly via discussing price or privacy benefits of using the cryptocurrency, instead of explaining the technical prowess of the underlying network. Others expressed concerns over the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies and a lack of underlying assets to back the network as reasons that dissuade them from purchasing digital tokens.

Other Redditors hold the belief that blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum will be a “massive thing going forward.” However, most commentators sided with the developments being a “high-risk” investment, regardless of the future significance of the technology.