Although blockchain is a new technology, Bitcoin is no longer perceived as a novelty. Most stakeholders have an optimistic opinion about it and use the future tense in discussion on the topic. These are some of the key findings of a recent Indexica’s research. The company used natural language programming (NLP) to analyse thousands of text documents on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
How does NLP reveal sentiments on Bitcoin?
For this survey, Indexica created a customised index starting from the texts using natural language processing (NLP). NLP combines computer science, linguistics, information engineering and artificial intelligence. Thus, researchers can use it for speech recognition, understanding natural language, as well as generating natural language.
For instance, using NLP, researchers can obtain a summary of a long text. Also, this technology is used in OCR software that identifies text in a photo or PDF document and converts it into an editable text document.
In the case of the Indexica research, NLP helped identify three leading drivers of conversation on Bitcoin.
What makes Bitcoin a mature digital asset according to Indexica
The first driver is the growing complexity of conversation on Bitcoin. This means that professionals, such as academics and financial specialists, have started discussing Bitcoin. These conversations are at a higher and more specialised level than general discussions between “regular people”.
Next, NLP identified a significant drop in the textual associations between Bitcoin and fraud. In other words, the general discourse on the topic no longer focuses on the negative aspects of using cryptocurrencies. This shows a growing trust in the legitimacy of Bitcoin.
Last but not least, study found that discourse about Bitcoin contains more future than past tense. According to the CEO of Indexica, Zak Selbert, executives will speak of good things they expect to happen on conference calls before they happen
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Can language predict the future of Bitcoin?
Natural language programming is an exact science that applies advanced computing and AI capabilities to analyse human discourse. To make their study relevant, the researchers at Indexica used a large sample of texts dealing with Bitcoin.
If nothing else, the results they show indicate that Bitcoin is a topic of interest for financial professionals, with positive connotations and an outlook for the future. This is a scientific confirmation of the general trend you may note in various articles on the topic.
Thus, we can definitely say that Bitcoin has left its troubled early days behind. Whatever the future holds, cryptocurrencies will face it in the position of mature assets that deserve as much attention as traditional currencies and other stores of value.
