as far as i can tell there are still quite a few exchanges where new users can't register, which considering it's been months for a few is a surprise, and then there are others such as bitfinex that did reopen but increased the minimum amount to $10,000 before new people could start to trade. this has been going on since slightly before the peak.
what effect do you think this had on the markets since december, if any? has a huge amount new blood been denied and subsequently stopped a pump or softened the dump or would their effects have been negligible?
as far as i know there's never been a period where so many newbies couldn't get in on the action.
I think the lack of newcomers softened both the pump and the subsequent dumping of coins. Question is whether our new friends that will get their accounts activated over the course of the next few weeks are still interested in Bitcoin now that its bull run has seemingly ended.
Of course we might see a second wave of uptrend in which case FOMO is likely to hit the newcomers hard once the market gains steam again. Not sure how well this is going to end though. Maybe a new crypto winter would be a good thing after all. It tends to thin the herd of both shitcoins and get-rich-quick speculators, which in the long run would be a net positive for the crypto market's stability.
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At the same time, real fiat gateways like Coinbase, Gemini, Bitflyer and Korean exchanges like Bithumb continue to onboard newbies. The last couple months of price action really just looks like classic post-bubble Bitcoin.
Kraken and Bitstamp seem to struggle with verifying new accounts though, both of which are very important for the European market.