At the moment, 2017 remains the golden era in crypto industry but I strongly believe the best is yet to come. I look forward to 2021 for another ATH in the industry across cryptos. Just like 2016 (Bitcoin halving year) foreran the 2017 bull run so will this 2020 (halving year) also forerun another bull run in 2021. BTW, it is so far so good in the industry as it is now. Given the pandemic, one would expect Bitcoin to have crashed beyond encouragement but that isn't so as price has continued to remain above $10k despite global financial crisis. Again, I think we now have genuine users and investors unlike what we had in 2017 when a lot of investors saw Bitcoin/cryptocurrencies as a get rich quick investment scheme.
I hope so. For crypto to be able to rise towards new ATHs, the pandemic must be put to an end. Only then, the mainstream economy will rise having a positive impact over crypto's prices on the market. While crypto rebounded to its pre-COVID levels in price within a short amount of time, it's still below its latest ATH. We may be in an accumulation phase before the market explodes after a vaccine is found. Or everything could turn bleak, leading towards a massive downfall in price after the demise of COVID-19. Despite what happens in the future, I think that each Bitcoin halving will have profound effects over the crypto market's valuation in the long term. But we'd need to be patient in order to achieve great results in the future.
Nonetheless, 2017 will remain as the "Golden Year of Crypto" until the market experiences new ATHs in price. If 2021 turns out to be extremely bullish for crypto, then it'll become the industry's best year yet. Current holders will gain substantial profits in the long term by having invested in crypto at an earlier time. With more people considering crypto to be a true alternative to Fiat, it seems to me that the best is yet to come. Just my thoughts