As we turn our calendars to 2020, now is an opportune time to reflect on the year ahead. What does our financial future hold in store? With the S&P 500 booming, its difficult to imagine a shift toward alternative finance, but the landscape could change in a hurry.

Geopolitical and corporate forces are on a collision course, and our financial lives might be upended in an instant. From Chinas exploration of a digital yuan to Facebooks insistence on Libra (its own digital money), the worlds powers are gearing up to seize financial control. The question is, will it work? Simultaneously, legacy digital currenciesespecially the hundreds of cryptos that arose in 2017could fall by the wayside.

With that in mind, here are my predictions for digital money in 2020:

After a rejuvenating 2019, it appears bitcoin is on the rise once more. While its underlying market is virtually inscrutablebillions of dollars shuttle between traders in the black marketthere is one fundamental change on the horizon. Sometime in May, the bitcoin network will automatically reduce its block reward, the money paid to miners who secure the network.

While miners currently receive 12.5 bitcoins (market value: $87,000) for adding each new block of transactions, the network will programmatically adjust to provide a smaller payout, a reward of just 6.25 bitcoins. This reduction, which occurs every 210,000 blocks,is called the halving, or sometimes, the halvening.

The last time this happenedin July 2016, when the reward dropped from 25 bitcoins to 12.5 bitcoinsthe crypto market wasnt nearly as popular. Back then, bitcoin traded in the mid-$600s. Now, though, with greater attention on its contracting issuance rate and finite supply, bitcoins price could rocket up the charts. While some argue the halving is priced in (i.e., everybody knows its going to happen), others suspect the shrinking reward will make buying bitcoin more urgent.

Kicking a project while its down isnt my style. But with so little to show over the last three years, its hard say that ethers market cap ($14 billion) is justified. Arguably, if bitcoin ascends, it might take ether with it.

But if theres any rationality to crypto trading (hint: theres not) then ether should rightfully plunge. Perhaps Im locked into an outdated expectation that ether will be more than digital moneyits creators billed ethereum as a decentralized internet, a place where peer-to-peer platforms could flourish without corporations. From file storage to new-age lenders, ethereum was/is supposed to change everything. Maybe my prediction is colored by my disappointment. But, other than currency, there still isnt a provable use case for ethereumand as long as we have bitcoin, who needs another one? Its time for the market to reflect ethers bland reality.

Continuing with my hard-truths tour, I anticipate that Libra will not launch this yearat least not in anything close to the format Facebook initially promised.Can you even imagine Facebook launching a digital currency in a US election year? If Libra launched and was even remotely tied to election interference, there would be hell to pay.

Libra has already stained Facebooks reputation, showing that the company jumped on the blockchain bandwagon without much planning,and it (briefly) made regulators laser their focus on big tech. If Facebook moves forward, Id expect it to make Libra much less crypto and much more conventional financesomething like a Facebook debit card, not full-blown Facebook money. In my view, its much more likely Facebook will focus its effort on WhatsApp Payand hopefully, warding off fake news.

All right, its time to get bold. While theres been a lot of buzz about Chinas digital money experiments (link in Chinese), Id wager that this is the year when the country will actually release something to the public. The digital currency/electronic payments (DC/EP) plan has been years in the making, and I see little reason why China would continue to wait in the wings.

While I dont expect a complete rollout, China might begin limited tests of the DC/EP, perhaps with corporate partners. As the country makes its push onto the world stage and grapples with possible US sanctions, this centrally-planned effortcould shift the balance of financial power. And its something that few othershave the wherewithal to pull off.

Yes, there are challenges to be ironed out with a digital wallet system, but with the increasing desire for insights into citizen/consumer behavior, a digital currencyissued by and linked to the Peoples Bank of Chinawould provide exactly the leverage the country seeks. My guess would be that this happens in the middle of the year.

The quiet collapse of the blockchain industry hasnt made headlines. But projects are absolutely running out of moneyand patience. How long are programmers and community managers willing to work on something that doesnt ship? Or just doesnt make sense?

In 2020, I think lots of blockchain developersand especially researcherswill return to academia. Likewise, the hangers-on in the marketing machine will move on to the next hot thing. Perhaps cannabis or 5G?

Finally, Ill go out on a limb once more to say, I think the US Securities and Exchange Commission will finally approve a bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Realistically, theres little reason for the agency to hold it up any longer. Concerns about bitcoin market manipulation dont relate nearly enough to the financial product itself. Additionally, it seems, the competition from a bitcoin ETF would probably make private investment vehicles lower their fees.

Bits & Pieces

Please send news, tips, and your predictions to privatekey@qz.com. Todays Private Key was written byMatthew De Silvaand edited byKatie Palmer. Only rich people tell you not to talk about money.

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2020 predictions for bitcoin, Libra, and the digital yuan - Quartz

Bitcoin price is climbing with a bullish angle above $7,000 against the US Dollar. BTC is likely to accelerate higher if it clears the $7,260 resistance.

Recently, there was a downside extension in bitcoin below the $7,100 and $7,000 support levels against the US Dollar. BTC price spiked towards the $6,880 support and traded to a new 2020 low at $6,863.

However, the bulls took a stand, resulting in a sharp upward move above the $7,000 resistance. Besides, there was a break above the $7,080 resistance area. More importantly, there was a break above a key bearish trend line with resistance near $7,120 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair.

The pair spiked above the 50% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the $7,530 high to $6,863 low. Though, the upward move was capped by the $7,260 resistance area.

Additionally, the price is facing hurdles near the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the $7,530 high to $6,863 low. Bitcoin is currently correcting lower below $7,200.

On the downside, an initial support is near the $7,120 level and the broken trend line. The next major support is near the $7,080 level, below which the price is likely to resume its downtrend.

Conversely, the price might continue to rise above the $7,260 resistance. The next major resistance is near the $7,400 level. An intermediate resistance is the 76.4% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the $7,530 high to $6,863 low.

If the price continues to rise above $7,380 and $7,400, the next stop for the bulls may perhaps be $7,460 and $7,500. Any further gains could lead the price towards the $7,500 resistance area in the coming sessions.

Bitcoin Price

Looking at the chart, bitcoin price is reversing losses above $7,100 and the 100 hourly SMA. If there is another surge above $7,260, it will most likely confirm a trend change and a fresh increase towards $7,500.

Technical indicators:

Hourly MACD The MACD is currently gaining strength in the bullish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) The RSI for BTC/USD is now well above the 50 level.

Major Support Levels $7,120 followed by $7,080.

Major Resistance Levels $7,260, $7,380 and $7,460.

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Bitcoin Just Reversed And Its Likely Heading $7,400 - newsBTC

Bitcoin Cash (BCH), a fork of Bitcoin and the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market map, has jumped in price by almost 14 percent within the last 24 hours.

BCH is now trading for right around $220 per coin, roughly a $20 jump from where it stood just yesterdayand a nearly $40 increase compared to two weeks ago.

Perhaps 2020 will prove to be a more positive year for Bitcoin Cash than the second half of 2019. Following a high of nearly $500 per coin during the summer, BCH has been on a steady decline ever since.

In mid-November, for example, the cryptocurrency led the market in terms of losses, along with its close crypto-cousin Bitcoin SV.

Nevertheless, Bitcoin Cash seems to be growing in popularity in regions such as Venezuela, where it is purportedly accepted by more shops and businesses than Bitcoin. So all hope for BCH hodlers isnt lost.

Meanwhile, crypto traders today are seeing green across the board. Bitcoin, for example, is up nearly 6 percent (possibly as a result of todays airstrike in Iran). Ethereum is up around 5 percent and trading at $133 per coin, and Bitcoin SV is up 10 percent and currently worth $102 per coin.

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Bitcoin Cash surges nearly 14 percent to close first week of 2020 - Yahoo Finance

Looking ahead to what we can expect by the new decades end, VC firm Andreessen Horowitz predicts that Bitcoin (BTC) is likely to be central to the monetization mechanisms that future online influencers will use.

In its Dec. 30 vignette of a highly automated future where food is tailored to an individuals microbiome and lifestyle in a roboticized kitchen, and VR and avatars are part and parcel of everyday business workflows Andreessen Horowitz writes that by 2030:

The influencer can reach hundreds of her fans instantaneously. In turn, the fans can get paid instantly for giving this feedback. They can choose to get paid in a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Libra, or they can choose to get paid in Influencer Coin.

Andreessen Horowitz sees the role of private digital assets like its hypothetical Influencer Coin as being a way for online fans to secure a stake in an influencers rising popularity similar to the way start-up employees participate in their startups growth through equity.

In a less literary take on strategic technology trends for the new decade yet one that overlaps significantly with Andreessen Horowitz in its overall vision ComputerWeekly.com has identified blockchain, hyper-automation and artificial intelligence security as the key drivers of change.

In the future, true blockchain or blockchain complete will have the potential to transform industries, ComputerWeekly contributor Brian Burke wrote on Jan. 2, further predicting that the technology will be fully scalable by 2023.

Blockchain together with complementary technologies such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) will expand the type of participants in decentralized and automated networks, Burke notes.

In the automotive industry, a smart sensor-equipped car could be able to negotiate insurance prices directly and automatically with an insurer using blockchain and IoT, for example.

More broadly, the report points to data privacy measures, increasingly democratized technology and distributed cloud computing as key parallel trends to blockchain in the coming decade.

On the cusp of the new year, ZenGo wallet CEO Ouriel Ohayon tweeted his joke-mode 2020 predictions. Swerving between the mock-apocalyptic and the sarcastic, he wrote:

Bitcoin will crash to sub-1000 USD; all hardware wallets will be hacked; Tron/XRP will become the most important cryptocurrency; Satoshi identity will be revealed and will be disappointing; Trump will stack sats on twitter; Lightning will have glorious adoption.

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Andreessen Horowitz: Bitcoin Will Usher in Influencer Coins by 2030 - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin has one flaw: it is too transparent. Thats what Matt Odell, advisor to bitcoin payments company Bottle Pay and prominent bitcoiner, claimed yesterday, in a podcast hosted by Ministry of Nodes co-founder Stephan Livera.

Every problem has a solution, though. In this case, it means accepting the transparency of the Bitcoin blockchain and adapting to it by protecting your own financial privacy. If enough people do this, Odell argued, it could do wonders for the Bitcoin ecosystemand, potentially, its price.

I think Bitcoin becomes more valuable, becomes more resilient and robust long term if individual users practice financial privacy because that is the single biggest vulnerability that Bitcoin has today, he said.

One way of achieving financial privacy is by using mixing services. Mixing is a process where you anonymously swap bitcoin with some other anonymous person, making it harder for anyone trying to keep a birds eye view of the money shifting over the blockchain. But it's not without controversy.

The podcast focused on the relative merits and drawbacks of using mixing services to hide the transaction history of some bitcoin. While they do make it harder for blockchain analytics companies to track what's going on, if you use a mixing service you could be swapping your coins for stolen bitcoin, or bitcoin that had been used to fund a terrorist attack.

The issue had been raised by Trace Mayer, known for leading the proof of keys movementencouraging everyone to take their bitcoin off custodial walletswho had pointed out the downsides of using mixing services in recent interviews.

Odell defended mixing services, arguing they are akin to virtual private networks (VPNs), where individuals swap IP addresses to mask where they are accessing the Internet. Because these projects are to protect the average user, they have to protect all users, he argued. Theres no way to know whats a good user and a bad user. Because as soon as youre able to delineate whats a good user and a bad user, then you have centralization.

While Odell acknowledged that mixing services currently have low volumes, making them less effective, he said this proves people need to use them more frequently. In particular, he said that anyone using centralized exchanges would benefit from using them to counteract the amount of data the exchange is collecting about them.

However, exchanges are legally required to perform know-your-customer protocols on their users, and this can include using blockchain analytics companies to survey their users. Were everyone to start mixing their coins, it could lead to a crackdown by exchanges. Odell said, I think [Mayer] is right in that a lot of these exchanges will start blocking transactions with CoinJoin history. CoinJoin being a popular mixing service.

This could have wider implications for those wishing to look after their own bitcoin, Odell argued. If they say CoinJoin is illegal and youre trying to withdraw from, lets say CashApp, and you withdraw from CashApp, you go through the five hops and then it goes to CoinJoin, are they going to block your account for that? he asked, adding that if they do, that amounts to completely banning self custody.

Despite the drawbacks and a potential clash of heads in the future, Odell maintained that mixing services are key to protecting financial privacy when using Bitcoin. Financial privacy, he said, is the only thing separating ourselves from dystopian governments with the power to financially enslave us.

I look at the world today and I look at all my peers that are using Venmo and PayPal, all these credit cards, all these centralized payment processors and theyre basically exposing their whole lives not only to these companies but also to the governments that theyre affiliated with, he said. If you have an authoritarian come in, theyre going to use that against you.

Time to get those mixers running.

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Opinion: Bitcoins price will go up if everyone does this one thing - Decrypt

The previous decade has been interesting from a financial point of view. Primarily the evolution of bitcoin is worth taking into account.

This remains one of the most modern forms of money to be introduced in the past 10 years.

It has to be said that bitcoins evolution has not been without setbacks.

In fact, there have been multiple key periods where bitcoin could have failed easily.

As Brian Armstrong explains, there have been five different bubbles.

Every bubble resulted in a massive bitcoin price decrease, yet the cryptocurrency bounced back fairly quickly.

To most, this is a clear indication of how strong bitcoin really is when it comes under increased scrutiny and pressure.

The bumpy ride of bitcoin has been well-documented by the media as well.

Volatility is the name of the game when getting involved in cryptocurrencies.

Unfortunately, this has also created a major downside for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole.

Many onlookers now view bitcoin and altcoins as speculative investments first and foremost.

However, that is how these assets are used more often than not.

The long-term game for cryptocurrency is still up for debate at this time.

It seems unlikely that the volatility will diminish, although that is not necessarily a bad thing either.

Image(s): Shutterstock.com

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Bitcoin Successfully Overcome 5 Bubbles in the Past Decade - The Merkle Hash

2019 has been crucial to the emergence of the crypto-derivatives market. Many industry experts believe that this sector would soon replicate positive figures exhibited by the traditional market as crypto-derivatives become more and more popular with institutional traders and investors continue to jump into the bandwagon.

For a long time, the derivatives space was dominated by players like BitMEX. However, exchanges such as the Malta-based crypto-giant, Binance, have also gained a consistent foothold over the past year. According to Binance Researchs latest report titled, December Markets Overview published on 3 January 2020, Binance Futures have recorded consistent growth.

Source: Binance Research | Volume of Binance BTC/USDT perpetual futures contract and spot market [in USDT million]

The first major spike for both spot as well as Futures volume was noted in October 2019. This was during the same time when Bitcoin witnessed a sharp surge in its price from a low of around $7.4k to $9.6k within 48 hours. The next major high for BTC/USDT perpetual Futures volume was seen in November, a high which coincided with a short-lived price rebound. BTC spot volume, on the other hand, did not post a significant figure, despite a few minor surges since October.

The latest high in BTC/USDT Futures was occasioned with the king coins price rally from $6.6k on 19 December to $7.5k on 23 December.

Source: Binance Research | Volume of Binance ETH/USDT perpetual futures contract and spot market [in USDT million]

ETH/USDT perpetual contract markets displayed a median daily volume of $58.7 million while the spot market exhibited $32.9 million daily volume.

More:

Bitcoin, Ethereum Futures record stronger volumes than spot on Binance - AMBCrypto

I have made a few dollars in BitcoinSV since I started paying to post on blockchain-based apps like Twetch. I have been investigating whether paying to post will shape the future of the social internet. But where can you spend your hard-earned Bitcoin?

With a lot of help from Twitter users @Street5Wall, $DiegoSV, and @BsvDevs, I have found a few places -- from the hundreds of online and physical stores where I can spend my virtual cryptocurrency and turn it into tangible goods. Here is a selection of vendors around the world where you can spend your cryptocurrency.

Adelline is a Korean cosmetics company that sells a range of beauty products and will ship internationally.

Las Vegas, NV-based Shiny Leaf produces skin and hair care products and a range of bath and body products. BitcoinSV is accepted amongst its other payment options.

AGRsicurezza is a business consultant, focusing on health and safety at work, training, and project management services. It accepts BitconSV payments.

Fivebucks is a global marketplace where vendors will design anything from logos to business cards and websites for an agreed fee. You can register your hand cash wallet $ID and transfer the cash over using Bitcoin.

North Greece-based Lord is an online fashion website that sells underwear to individuals and trade. It will accept a wide range of cryptocurrencies.

To invest in cryptocurrencies, the app Abraenables you to buy ad sell currencies, fund your cryptocurrency from your credit card account, or withdraw currencies to an external wallet.

Italia Clickis an international food distributor that embraces technologies such as Bitcoin and uses them to accept payments. In November, it added crypto to its payment options and will accept payment in several different cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin SV, Etherium, and Ripple. I can vouch for the deliciousness of the chocolate!

Crete-based 35North sells extra virgin olive oil from where the 35th parallel north crosses the mountains of Crete. Although its Twitter account states that FIAT and crypto payments are accepted, the online shop only offers the choice to pay by card or PayPal. You will need to make a special request for your crypto to be accepted via the online store.

Hot Hogs BBQ is a food truck in New Hampshire, which gets enthusiastic reviews from customers and won WMUR Best Barbecue in NH 2019. It accepts Bitcoin, dash, BitcoinSV, and Bitcoin cash for your BBQ, but hold fire before hot-footing it over to New Hampshire. Hot Hogs is now closed until the spring.

The Lucky Hot Dog is a food truck in Chicago serving dogs, burgers, beef, and chicken. Payment by Bitcoin, card, or cash.

The Yarron Valley Bottleshop in Australia accepts Bitcoin, amongst other payment methods for drinks. You do need to buy your alcohol in-store instead of online.

RPGStash offers MMORPG services and tradable video game items for Runescape, Fortnite, Tibia, Diablo 2, etc. It accepts Bitcoin as payment.

GamerAll offers skins, keys, and services for games such as Rust, Dota 2, Team Fortress 2, Escape from Tarkov, and others. It also sells console and game titles and has over 100 ways to pay, including Bitcoin.

Medical device provider, Premier Medical Inc., has an enthusiastic president who supports Bitcoin payments for its medical products.

UK-based Performance Ticket Printers will print customized tickets for your event or membership organization and will accept cryptocurrency.

GPS Tracker Shop offers vehicle trackers and fleet tracker solutions for business, law enforcement surveillance, and family safety. It accepts BitcoinSV on its online store.

HostingSSi is a provider of web hosting, domains, VPNs, Streaming, and SSL Certificate focused on Venezuela and Latin America. It accepts Bitcoin and Litecoin payments, amongst others.

The Living Room of Satoshi is a crypto payments gateway in Australia that enables you to pay bills.

Lithuania-based Greitai is an online travel site, part of the Otravo group offering online airline tickets, hotels, and car rental searches. It offers cheap flights to England, Ireland, USA, Spain, Italy, France, etc.

There is a graphical map of vendors around the globe who accept Bitcoin and are marked with pushpins on the OnChain BSV/Maps site and the Satoshi Maps site. If you know of any vendors who accept Bitcoin SV, you can add your own marker to the map.

The Cryptwerk website has a list of services and vendors who accept Bitcoin across a range of offerings.

Agora has a marketplace selling Bitcoin related items, amongst others. ClassifiedSV is a Craiglist-like site allowing trading for goods and services using BitcoinSV.

There are many more outlets, and the list is growing daily. Which is your favorite Bitcoin vendor that we should know about?

inn

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From crypto currency to chocolate, where to spend your Bitcoin - ZDNet

2019 was a crazy year for cryptocurrency enthusiasts and a number of interesting events happened throughout the last 12 months. Its hard to keep track of the day-to-day activities taking place within the cryptosphere and there may be a few incidents some of our readers missed. At news.Bitcoin.com we took the opportunity to scan our most popular articles from 2019 in order to create a year-end list to share with our readers.

Also Read: A List of Self-Proclaimed Bitcoin Inventors and Satoshi Clues Debunked in 2019

Bitcoin.coms writers are entrenched in the cryptosphere and every day our writing team is on the hunt for cryptocurrency-related news. During the last 365 days, a number of our writers have published news stories seven days a week to keep our readers informed. Theres been a number of developments in 2019, as the community is dealing with digital asset regulations, crypto exchange hacks, central banks practicing monetary easing, and people claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto. The following is a look at news.Bitcoin.coms most popular crypto articles in 2019 by order of the highest-trafficked content.

In September, news.Bitcoin.coms Kevin Helms reported on the Reserve Bank of Indias regulatory guidelines imposed, which limited bank customers withdrawals from 137 financial institutions. Customers from these bank branches were only allowed to withdraw 1,000 rupees (approximately $14) per account for six months.

After the news spread, a number of Indias citizens revolted and the government had to send police assistance to a few different banks located in Mumbai. The report highlighted how the current banking system, no matter what country you live in, continues to grow untrustworthy.

Across 2019, a great number of central banks and countries participated in practicing monetary easing. However, one specific economy, that has been considered the foundation of Europe, has been showing signs of financial failure. In August, Lubomir Tassev explained that the German economy is facing an economic crisis that could cause a domino effect throughout the EU.

2019 statistics had shown that Germanys strong industrial economy saw significant declines in production. [Germany] is now seeing a significant decline in production by 2.7% year-on-year in January and 1.9% in April compared to the previous month, Tassev detailed. Then in May, factory orders declined 2.2% from a month ago and registered an 8.6% annual drop, the biggest in a decade. The following month the country invoked a five-year rent freeze in Berlin.

In May, the cryptocurrency community found another suspect who might be the infamous creator of Bitcoin. Kai Sedgwick reported on how the name Paul Le Roux found its way into the cryptosphere last spring. During the Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit, Document 187 had shown an unredacted name and Wiki link which belongs to the criminal mastermind Paul Le Roux.

The document led people to believe that Le Roux was smart enough to create Bitcoin and the coincidental timing of his arrest was around the same time Nakamoto left the community. Speculators really started wondering if Le Roux was Nakamoto when an anon from 4chans /biz/ messageboard insisted that Bitcoin was a project of a evil genius Paul Solotshi Calder Le Roux.

Satoshi Nakamoto was a popular topic in 2019, and a few of news.Bitcoin.coms highest-trafficked articles are written about this legendary character. The day before Halloween, news.Bitcoin.com published a story about the fascinating clues left behind by Bitcoins notorious creator.

The editorial discusses Satoshis planning, theories as to why Nakamoto left the community, and conspiracy theories like the idea that Bitcoin was created by the CIA. Satoshi left behind a bunch of clues and said some interesting statements back when the monicker spoke on bitcointalk.org and the cryptography mailing list.

All year long Indian cryptocurrency enthusiasts have been waiting on the final word in regard to digital currency regulations in India. News about the regulatory situation started coming to life in the spring and in March, Indias government told the supreme court that the crypto regulations being drafted were near completion.

Attorney Jaideep Reddy of Nishith Desai, a lawyer behind a writ petition opposing the crypto banking ban by the Reserve Bank of India, told news.Bitcoin.com at the time: The matter was heard for a very short period of time The matter started with the counsel for the Union of India stating that its committee is in the final stages of deliberations and that the matter should be heard after that.

During the first week of August, it was discovered that the giant retail corporation Walmart patented plans for a stablecoin backed by USD. The news followed Facebooks announcement to launch a coin called Libra. Walmarts attempt also followed the time when the company attempted to start its own banking services back in 2006.

At the time, politicians and financial incumbents opposed Walmart joining the banking industry and the firm got so much pushback it decided to quit the banking attempt. However, with a Walmart Coin, the company could skip all the banking charter laws and offer customers a different kind of savings incentive through cryptocurrency dividends.

News about cryptocurrency laws in India was of great interest to news.Bitcoin.com readers in 2019. On July 26, headlines detailed that an Indian official who led the committee which had created the crypto ban bill resigned.

Former Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg decided to apply for voluntary retirement after receiving flak from the Indian cryptocurrency community. Supporters of friendlier digital asset laws in India, called the drafted bill flawed and after a few controversial tweets about crypto, he left his post. Moreover, a few days prior, members of the Indian government told the public that digital currencies were not banned.

In the first month of 2019, news.Bitcoin.coms Lubomir Tassev wrote a review about eight different crypto debit cards people can use around the world. The editorial discussed cards issued by firms like Wirex, Bitpay, Revolut, Cryptopay, and Fuzex.

The report explained the negatives and the positive benefits to a loadable cryptocurrency card. In addition to detailed information about existing crypto cards on the market, Tassev also wrote about the upcoming card companies that planned to launch in 2019. The editorial highlights how the use of crypto debit cards significantly expands the usability of digital coins in the world.

There were a hell of a lot more popular stories last year and the eight mentioned above just scratch the surface when it comes to news.Bitcoin.coms 2019 archive. Other reader favorites in our library this year included subjects like a possible Deutsche Bank collapse, how Citi, Deutsche, and HSBC laid off thousands of employees, the Indian supreme courts struggles with drafting regulations, and the Philippines seeing 10 government approved exchanges.

There were plenty of Satoshi Nakamoto stories and unique editorials involving the mysterious creator of Bitcoin. The news about the U.S. tax agency telling the public they planned on sending 10,000 letters to American cryptocurrency owners shocked our readers. 2019 also saw the downfall of the biggest multi-level-marketing (MLM) crypto scam of all time when the so-called Bitcoin Killer Onecoin crumbled.

What do you think about the eight most popular news.Bitcoin.com articles from 2019? Let us know what you think about the subjects and articles in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation, endorsement, or sponsorship of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any ideas, concepts, content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Fair Use.

Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see whats happening in the industry.

Jamie Redman is a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Redman has written thousands of articles for news.Bitcoin.com about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

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These Are the Bitcoin Stories You Loved in 2019 - Bitcoin News

On January 1, the BTC network hashrate touched an all-time high at close to 120 exahash per second (EH/s). Despite the crypto market lull and lower BTC prices, the 2020 milestone happened just before the blockchains 11th anniversary. BTCs curious jump in hashrate has the cryptosphere wondering whether or not the price truly follows hashpower.

Also Read: Market Update: Crypto Traders Search for Bullish and Bearish Trends

One of the crypto communitys favorite topics is hash power, which is a cryptocurrency mining rigs processing speed. The overall hashrate is the combined hash power used to mine cryptocurrencies like BCH, BTC, and a slew of other coins. The hashrate that analytical websites track is typically measured in calculated hashes per second. Data sites use terminology like terahash (1,000,000,000,000 hashes per second), petahash (one quadrillion hashes per second), and exahash, which equals one quintillion hashes per second.

For some perspective, most single-unit machines produce a number of terahash per second. Bigger facilities filled with mining rigs and collaborative pools produce petahash, and the entire network of single miners, giant facilities, and pools combined yield a number of exahash. Miners on the BTC network did not process one exahash until the last week of January 2016. At the time, the milestone was considered a noteworthy spike in overall hashrate. On January 1, 2020, the BTC network hashrate touch 119 EH/s surpassing the chains previous all-time high of 100 EH/s.

Similar to now, in 2016 BTC prices were low, at $380 per coin when the network crossed one exahash. Following the jump in hash power, the price did follow, and very slowly crept from $380 per BTC to $700 per coin in June of that year. Following the month of June, BTCs hashrate climbed above two EH/s but BTC prices remained stagnant fluctuating between $600-$775 per coin. At the end of November 2016, the price per BTC started climbing higher and the value continued to spike in the spring of 2017. From the spring months of 2017 all the way until December 2017, both BTCs fiat value and hashrate skyrocketed. In April 2017, the overall BTC network hashrate was around 4 EH/s and by the years end, it was hovering around 15 EH/s. Now, despite the price dropping from close to $20k per BTC all the way to the $3,500 range, the hashrate jumped to 56 EH/s in September 2018 without dropping much in between.

In September 2018, with a hashrate around 56 EH/s, the price per BTC was similar to todays market prices at $6,500 per coin. From September to December 2018, the BTC network lost a significant amount of hashrate as it plummeted to 31 EH/s. Of course, the price in December 2018 was between $3,200 to $4,000 per BTC. Bitcoin prices didnt start to recover until the end of March 2019, but from December 2018 until the spring months of 2019, BTCs hashrate regained the hash power it held in September 2018 at around 56 EH/s. The overall hashrate has doubled since then, touching a milestone of 100 EH/s in November 2019. The price per BTC has also followed suit up until it touched the 100 EH/s all-time high. Since then, BTCs fiat value has hovered around the $6,500 to $7,500 region.

There is always a lot of talk that the price follows hashrate and historically this has been true. However, statistics show that the hash power typically gets a decent lead before the prices start kicking into gear. This means that it could take some time for the price to follow the climbing hashrate.

If historical patterns remain consistent with future patterns, it could mean a few more months before the price comes around. People should also keep in mind that past price and hashrate patterns do not necessarily reflect what will happen in the future.

What do you think about the BTC network hashrate coming close to 120 EH/s on January 1, 2020? Do you agree that the price will follow BTCs hashrate? Or do you think that patterns like price and hash do not matter? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Disclaimer: Price articles and market updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the money. Cryptocurrency prices referenced in this article were recorded at different times using historical fiat prices and todays global exchange rate for BTC at 3:00 p.m. EST on January 2, 2020.

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Jamie Redman is a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source code, and decentralized applications. Redman has written thousands of articles for news.Bitcoin.com about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

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BTC's Hashrate Touches 120 Exahash, But the Price Has Not Followed - Bitcoin News