With the way the things are going right now, there is a high possibility that this year would be nothing than push and pull actions from both sides (bulls and bears). Looking at the recent news, even with the numerous positive things bitcoin had been receiving, the price isn't really pushing significantly unlike in 2017 when a small news would take the price into massive gains. This might be a passive year, sure, but then again bitcoin never fails to disappoint.
-snip=given the growing trend of new government regulations, this may be the beginning of a long winter.
I beg to differ, since having some clear regulations about the matter could certainly pull doubting people into the game, especially those who trusts the government so much. Regulations mean confidence from the not-so-confident peers and it could potentially trigger them to buy not only because of the gains but also because of the government chiming in to the crypto talks.