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At the peak of the bull market, the rally to nearly US$70,000 per bitcoin last year seemed to be a big spike. What a number!

What one unit of anything investible is actually US$70,000? Sure, one Berkshire Hathaway Inc. class-A share is about US$400,000. But what else? A barrel of oil is considered expensive when its over US$100.

But absolute numbers are deceptive because what comprises a single unit is entirely arbitrary.

Without its stock splits in which one share is arbitrarily divided into a certain number so that individual shares appear cheaper one Apple Inc. share would be worth more than US$30,000, as opposed to US$130 currently.

Its thus more accurate to not look at absolute numbers, but percentages. And through that lens, bitcoin hasnt really been wildly appreciating. Through every market cycle, the peaks have been lower, in fact.

That reflects great forces coursing through the markets that have only been more intense as of late: the regulation and enforcement that, while welcomed by some, are changing crypto in a fundamental way.

Ethan Lou: Hate crypto? Put your money where your mouth is and bet against it

All that points to an inevitability: the days of the constant wild price gyrations and outsized gains are over.

In the boom-bust cycles of bitcoin, there have been three notable peaks: US$1,000 in 2013, nearly US$20,000 in 2017 and almost US$70,000 in 2021.

Each time, the rally in percentage terms has gone down. The last peak was just a little more than three times of the one before it. But 2017s US$20,000 was 20 times the peak of 2013.

And 2013s US$1,000, compared with prices before? Well, before that, bitcoin markets were even less established than now, and objectively determining the price is difficult.

Those were the days when, famously, 10,000 units were exchanged for two pizzas. For all intents and purposes, bitcoin was virtually worthless back then. From that to its 2013 peak of US$1,000 whatever multiple that was, it was definitely way more than 20 times.

What had driven this rally was the ease of participation for both investors and those who make the investment products.

Unlike any other financial instrument, bitcoin, and the world of cryptocurrency it spawned, had come with no paperwork for anyone. You could meet someone off Craigslist, pay them in cash and receive bitcoins on a smartphone app.

On the side of industry, anyone could start their own coin or exchange platform. The collapsed QuadrigCX exchange was infamously just one guy on his laptop.

All that ease resulted in a wave of new money entering the crypto world, money that had not been in the markets before. In early 2022, a survey showed that 55 per cent of bitcoin investors had started within the last year.

Thats not going to go on for much longer. And its not just because of the macroeconomic conditions of higher interest rates and costlier borrowing.

Enforcement has been unprecedented. The U.S. government has imposed sanctions on some blockchain code, as both the Justice Department and an increasingly hawkish Securities and Exchange Commission increase scrutiny of the industry.

The worlds largest exchange platform, Binance, is under investigation by nearly every arm of the U.S. government, and some in the industry speculate that its founder is avoiding the country owing to fears of arrest (which he has denied).

Even the creators of the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT (non-fungible token) collection of digital pictures is under investigation by the SEC.

On Monday, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development proposed new global rules on crypto, and the European Union separately firmed up its own new rules.

The European Commission has been looking at analyzing data on the Ethereum platform, which underpins a great portion of the crypto world. Such analysis has been big business for firms that do so crypto activity is becoming more and more open and trackable.

In short, this is a reversal of the phenomenon that had made crypto rally so hard in the earlier years. Under the growing regulatory yoke, crypto is being forced to become more like mainstream finance, with all of its associated red tape.

To be sure, this does not mean that cryptos price movements will, in the near future, become like mainstream finance or that we would never again see headlines with a much bigger number for one unit of bitcoin.

Its just that those days would be fewer and farther between, and the market would take a lot longer to reach those big numbers.

For that ridiculous ease with which people could both invest in crypto or create investment products is becoming a thing of the past. And while crypto might be safer, less volatile and more pleasing to the authorities as a result, it would also become more boring and less attractive to those seeking its traditional outsized gains.

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Opinion: As bitcoin becomes boring, the days of outsized crypto gains are ending - The Globe and Mail

Hold Bitcoin till the very end or sell a little bit to start a family? For one Bitcoiner in northwest London, it was a no-brainer.

Noodle (a nickname), a Brit who first heard about Bitcoin around 2012, took profits on his Bitcoin buys to pay for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment for his wife. He told Cointelegraph he has no regrets, about his decision to start a family using fiat-denominated profits from buying, holding, a then selling Bitcoin.

Noodle first found out about Bitcoin at the tail end of 2012, when 1 BTC was worth roughly $13.

The now-defunct marketplace Silk Roadwas a place where early Bitcoin users could buy and sell pretty much anything using Bitcoin as the in-house currency. At the time, Noodle didnt necessarily dismiss Bitcoin despite his gym buddy's recommendation, but it passed him by until a close friend explained how to buy cannabis with Bitcoin on the Silk Road.

Once his close mate had explained that they might be able to use the Bitcoin to buy real-world items, Noodle was convinced:

The price of Bitcoin has since risen almost 400x higher, to a $20,000 bear market value in 2022. For Noodle in 2013, he explained it was actually quite difficult to obtain Bitcoin it was a really convoluted process. However, he persevered and managed to obtain Bitcoin to buy goods. Unknowingly, Noodle had alsotripped down the rabbit holeand his Bitcoin journey had just begun.

For Noodle, Bitcoin opened his eyes to finance, education and a whole world of new information. From fractional reserve banking tothe Federal Reservetocurrency debasement and how money works, Noodle was hooked. Naturally, Noodles wife with whom hed been since 2008, was exposed to Noodles newfound passion.

The passion eventually rubbed off as in 2014, Noodles wife took some of the newly married couples wedding money to buy Bitcoin. Noodle jokes, And who would know [...] that that Bitcoin would then go on to effectively fund IVF which is not fuking cheap!

The Noodle family had always planned to have kids. Sadly, due to the medical condition of his wide, conceiving was a challenge. They sought medical advice and soon realized that they may have to undergo fertility treatment:

IVF is a fertility technique in which an egg is removed from the woman's ovaries and fertilized with sperm in a laboratory. The fertilized egg is returned to the woman's womb to grow and develop.

The process is time-consuming, expensive and has a success rate of 4% to 38% depending on various factors. Plus, as Noodle alluded to, there is still a stigma attached to IVF treatment, despite being a regular occurrence in Noodles home country, the United Kingdom.Noodle continued:

So Noodle sold some Bitcoin. In sum, Noodle converted north of $70,000 in Bitcoin into government-issued poundsover the course of a few years. The fiat-denominated profits paid for several rounds of IVF treatment for both of his children leading to two healthy babies.

Without Bitcoin, Noodle explained he would have likely taken out a loan to pay for the treatment: Family is important to me, and I would have thrown anything and everything at it in order to try and make it work. But we were very fortunate that we had some Bitcoin, and I didn't sell it for a long time.

Related: The UK 'Bitcoin Adventure' shows BTC is a family affair

With Bitcoin, Noodle and his wife were able to live their dream of starting a family, but debt free. As for whether or not there might be any more Bitcoin baby Noodles running around northwest London soon, Noodle joked, I think we're done with two kids unless the price goes super crazy!

Noodles story is part of an upcoming crypto story on Cointelegraphs YouTube channel. Subscribe here.

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To HODL or have kids? The IVF Bitcoin Babies paid for with BTC profits - Cointelegraph

Golden Bitcoin coins.

Tsokur | Getty Images

Cryptocurrency prices rebounded Thursday after sliding to new October lows following the release of a key U.S. inflation reading that came in hotter than expected.

The price of bitcoin was last higher by 1.3% at $19,388.89and ether lost 0.7% to trade at $1,289.20, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier in the day they fell as low as $18,201.00 and $1,192.80, respectively.

Bitcoin dropped below $19,000 early on Thursday as investors anxiously awaited the latest read on the consumer price index. It fell more sharply after the report came in, showing a slightly larger-than-expected increase in inflation, despite the aggressive rate hikes the Federal Reserve has brought into play to combat rising prices.

Cryptocurrencies have been trading mostly sideways since the end of August, with bitcoin hovering within $19,000. That's been a key level to watch for analysts, who say a break below it could lead to new lows below those hit in June, when bitcoin fell below $17,800 and ether fell under $900.

"Crypto markets are still overwhelmingly driven by macro. Bitcoin continues to trade within a tight range since June," said Michael Rinko, venture associate at AscendEx. "However, today's CPI print may threaten to break this range to the downside."

By noon crypto recovered with the stock market. Still, Steve McClurg, chief investment officer at Valkyrie investments, said the market's initial reaction was to be expected with high inflation suggesting to investors that the Fed will continue with its planned rate hikes.

"Given what we know about Powell's stated goal right now, and the fact that we are in what appears to be a deep recession, it makes sense that we'd be down today," he said. "We firmly believe that markets still have not yet reached a bottom, and that there's still likely another 10% to 15% leg down for digital assets, and even more for equities," he added.

Elsewhere in the market, bond yields moved higher following the inflation report, which put initially put pressure on crypto equities. Rising rates make future profits, like those promised by growth companies, less attractive.

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Bitcoin recovers above $19,000 after finding a new low for the month - CNBC