Bitcoin began its year on a negative note. Its price fell below $7,200 on the second day of the year. The much-awaited Santa Claus rally didnt materialize for the worlds largest cryptocurrency as the optimism fueled by the holiday spirit did not really catch up with the coins price.

However, soon, the price did rebound. Bitcoin jumped by over 2% on the third day of 2020 as it entered its eleventh year. Following a strong upward movement against the U.S Dollar, the coin was valued at $7,363 with a market cap of $133 billion. Meanwhile, Bitcoin continued to hold a market dominance of over 68.5%

Despite such setbacks, Bitcoin continues to be the king as the coins trading dominance was recorded to be above 40%. In the latest December Markets Overview, Binance Research revealed that Bitcoins trading dominance for the month was 40.48%. The figures, however, had declined by 1.28% since November, a month when it registered a trading dominance of 41.76%. Binance Research defines Bitcoin trading dominance as the respective volume contribution from Bitcoin trading, with BTC as a base currency, relative to the total spot volume on a platform [e.g., Binance] over a period of time.

Binances report highlighted,

Bitcoin trading dominance remained above the 40% mark in December [40.48%], a slight decrease [-1.28%] from 41.76% in November. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin market dominance increased slightly from ~ 67% to ~ 68%.

The yearly low for this metric was recorded at 11% in March 2019. Overall, the figures largely remained positive as it gradually rose shortly after. Bitcoins monthly trading dominance rose significantly in August to 45.06%, a figure which happens to be its yearly high. This occasioned with Bitcoins price surge to over $12k. The figures, however, fell to 39.88% in October and coincided with Bitcoins price falling below $8.5k in the same month.

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Bitcoin records trading dominance of over 40% on Binance - AMBCrypto

India has been one of the most notable emerging economies in the world in the last few decades. It currently stands at seventh place with a nominal GDP of $2.72 trillion and it is expected to overtake the United Kingdom in years to come. Indias PM Narendra Modi envisioned a dream of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2024. But achieving that dream for a country with a population of 1.3 billion might be a challenge if the current economic performance is to be considered. Indeed, bitcoin adoption in India could be the key to its economic future.

If Indias GDP is to reach $5 trillion by 2025, its minimum annual growth rate will need to be greater than 10.8 percent every year. Indias current GDP growth has fallen sharply from 8 percent last year to 5 percent in the second quarter of 2019. Manufacturing growth in India slumped to a 15-month low in August due to lower sales growth, resulting in factories being forced to shut down production.

Another reason for slowing economic growth is Indias rising unemployment rate, which was 8.5 percent in October, its highest in the last three years. Foreign portfolio investors were net sellers of Indian stocks during the July-September quarter, withdrawing over $3.2 billion from Indian capital markets. The Indian central governments fiscal deficit is projected to widen to about 3.7 percent in FY20, contrary to the plan of keeping it under 3.3 percent.

With all these lower-than-expected results, the Indian government has been taking a series of measures to boost the economy from the supply-side by pushing public capital expenditures, lowering the corporate tax from 35 percent to 25 percent. Indias central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut its interest rate five times since the start of 2019 to boost spending.

Back in 1991, India adopted economic liberalization which helped to expand its economy and its role in private investment. Due to this radical reform, India achieved the status of a developing country but failed to adopt similar reforms which would have propelled it toward becoming fully developed. What the Indian government could do is adopt measures to stir the economy in an upward direction and also focus on opening the doors to supplement growth. Right now, India has a chance to live up to this potential by adopting another radical monetary innovation: Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is the worlds most powerful monetary innovation, with an idea to democratize exchange/store of value without any control from a single authority. Eleven years after its birth, it has been the best-performing asset class and, importantly, is on its way from being merely collectible to achieving the status of digital gold in years to come. Recently, Bitcoins hash rate just hit an all-time high of 111 EH/s, restoring confidence in its network despite the price dump. Every day (or, more precisely, every 10 minutes) as Bitcoins network becomes stronger than before, it will absorb more monetary value in proportion.

Whats important is that the rise in bitcoins monetary value will have a significant impact on Indias fiat currencies. Countries with the weakest monetary policies and currencies are most at risk of economic failure at the outset. Once they begin to fall, a domino effect of all fiat currencies which adopted the wrong monetary policy and engaged in excessive money printing will follow. This threat to fiat currencies is a large part of the reason why governments all around the world are hesitant toward directly adopting bitcoin. But governments should view bitcoin not as a threat but as an opportunity.

Long before bitcoin, gold was considered a robust store of value. In 1944, 44 countries signed onto the Bretton Woods system, agreeing to peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar (which was, itself, declared to be backed by gold). Due to this structure and overall confidence in its economy, the USA achieved the status of superpower in decades to come. The same sort of robust growth could be achieved by India through bitcoin adoption.

First, India can open the roads for everyone to directly invest in bitcoin legally through banking channels. As it has done with gold, the Indian central bank can continue accumulating bitcoin as the countrys reserves. Due to bitcoins fixed supply of 21 million, accumulating earlier than other countries will have a significant advantage in years to come. These bitcoin reserves will be beneficial for carrying out public capital expenditures and aiding the private sector through serial reforms.

Whenever a new investment opportunity knocks on a countrys doors, it has the potential to have an entire ecosystem built up around it. Same is true for bitcoin. It will give rise to new entrepreneurs, new start-ups, new businesses, new innovations, new products and services, new consumers, and altogether new markets. It happened with the internet and smartphones.

It is happening with other technologies like AI and IoT. It is happening with blockchain technology and Bitcoin in some countries like Singapore, Germany, and Switzerland. Hence, it makes eminent sense to let bitcoin flourish in a regulated environment around the world. This philosophy may run contrary to the rebellious roots of some Bitcoin enthusiasts who strive to challenge the current financial system. But lets be practical here. If bitcoin has to reach a population of 1.3 billion people like India, it will only happen through appreciation, acceptance and minor adjustments.

Coming to a common Indian individual, giving them access to invest in bitcoin through regulated channels will help increase their purchasing power. Currently, per capita income is just over $2,000 which is significantly lower than in other developed countries. Also, average retail investors are not allowed to have access to open global high performing markets, secluding them to limited options in Indias equities and commodities markets.

If the Indian government classifies bitcoin as a good/commodity/currency, a population of 1.3 billion will get access to store their wealth in the hardest money resulting in an increase in overall per capita income over time. More importantly, providing access to the hardest money will help maintain a base level of demand during critical times like recession or economic slowdown. Even today, 190 million people in India are unbanked, with the help of bitcoin these people can have access to money management like savings and transacting.

Bitcoins on-chain growth will give rise to multiple Bitcoin companies on second/third-layer solutions. With open Indian Bitcoin regulations, it will create many significant Bitcoin innovations and also create a plethora of Bitcoin-related jobs in technological engineering, marketing, etc.

India can take a proactive approach toward bitcoin by first accepting the innovation and later recognizing it. This will help India achieve the status of a $5 trillion economy, or maybe beyond.

In conclusion, it is fair to say, very soon, that bitcoin will help India be more visible and we can become the powerhouse that we have the potential to be. Coupled with our aim to integrate financial inclusivity, we will be unstoppable, as far as booming economies go.

This is an op ed by Sumit Gupta. Views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Bitcoin Magazine or BTC Inc.

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How Bitcoin Adoption Will Help India Achieve Its $5 Trillion... - Bitcoin Magazine

Im reviewing the 2010s in Bitcoin. This is the story about 2016 in Bitcoin. Read about 2015here.

2016 was the year in which Mike Hearn, long-time Bitcoin developer, declared the project dead. Yet, amid rampant inflation in Venezuela, reports emerged that people were depending on Bitcoin for their very livelihoods. Craig Steven Wright claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, also, but failed to do so with cryptographic proof, leaving most skeptical. Heres 2016 in Bitcoin.

Venezuela Turns to Bitcoin

In the wake of the former president Hugo Chavezs death, Venezuela endured the highest inflation rate in the world in three years prior to 2016, which the IMF estimated to be between 186% and 720%

As Venezuelas economy slipped further into crisis, interest in Bitcoin increased, with reports surfacing as early as January that search and trading volumes were spiking. Throughout 2016, Venezuela continuously set new bitcoin transaction volume records, according to Coin.Dances tracking of LocalBitcoins activity in the country, and price controls there led to cheap electricity, and, thus, a proliferation of Bitcoin mining operations.

Venezuelan brokers traded Bolivars for Bitcoin. Many people used Surbitcoin, and then bought things over the internet that were not available in the country. They also used LocalBitcoins for peer-to-peer transactions and to be paid for freelancing gigs, as reported by The Merkle.

On Garrick Hilemans Bitcoin Market Potential Index, which ranks countries based on theirpotential for bitcoin adoption, Venezuela ranked second in April 2016. Bitcoin News spoke in 2016 with a person in Venezuela, whose identity was not revealed due to Venezuelas precarious economic and political situation.

Personally I use bitcoin as a way to save and secure my money, in order to protect my wealth from the hyperinflation we are currently facing. Bitcoin really can help Venezuela bloom economically and relieve Venezuelans from these controls imposed on us, he said.

The Venezuela resident added: The truth is that bitcoin helps us to guard and protect our money outside of any economic measure that the government will implement to harm us. Each day the trading community is growing in Venezuela, but it grows in mere clandestinity, very very underground.

Mike Hearn, Longtime Developer, Quits Bitcoin

Mike Hearn had spent 5 years developing Bitcoin. He had written a lot of the protocols code, talked about the technology on Sky TV and BBC News and in The Economist, as well as spoken to the Securities and Exchange Commission about Bitcoin.

He had a constant refrain. Bitcoin is an experiment and like all experiments, it can fail. In other words, dont invest what you can afford to lose.

But despite knowing that Bitcoin could fail all along, the now inescapable conclusion that it has failed still saddens me greatly, he wrote in a January 2016 in a Medium post. The fundamentals are broken and whatever happens to the price in the short term, the long term trend should probably be downwards. I will no longer be taking part in Bitcoin development and have sold all my coins.

Hearn argued that the Bitcoin community had failed the technology. What was meant to be a new, decentralised form of money that lacked systemically important institutions and too big to fail has become something even worse: a system completely controlled by just a handful of people.

He wrote that the network was on the brink of technical collapse. The mechanisms that should have prevented this outcome have broken down, and as a result theres no longer much reason to think Bitcoin can actually be better than the existing financial system.

He evoked unpredictable, high and rising fees, suggested Bitcoin is controlled by China, and lamented that the companies and people building it were in open and civil war.

Bitcoin Conference 2019

Craig Steven Wright Claims To Be Satoshi

Instead of providing cryptographic proof to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, Craig Steven Wright instead wrote a blog post in May stating that he was Satoshi Nakamoto.

Gavin Andresen, to whom Nakamoto originally entrusted the Bitcoin source code, and Jon Matonis, an early Bitcoin writer at Forbes, both corroborated Wrights claims, though Andresen later regretted doing so. His support of Wright cost Andresen his developer status on the Bitcoin core project.

His commit rights were revoked because there is a certain risk or possibility that he is hacked, Jonas Schnelli, a Bitcoin core developer, told Trace Mayer on the Bitcoin Knowledge podcast.

Wright acted a lot like Nakamoto, Andresen believed. He can also say things that sound, at first, ridiculousAfter spending time with him I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt: Craig Wright is Satoshi.

A longtime Bitcoin businessman and investor, Mayer was not convinced by Wright. There are much better ways, and clearer ways he could do that by signing with his PGP key or the Genesis Block receiving key, he said.

Bitfinex Hack

A hacker stole in August nearly 119,756 bitcoins valued at the time at $72 million from Hong Kong-based Bitfinex, which was at the time the worlds largest dollar-based exchange for bitcoin. The volume stolen represented approximately 0.75 percent of all bitcoins in circulation.

The bitcoin was stolen from users segregated wallets, said Zane Tackett, Director of Community & Product Development for Bitfinex.

The hack took place just two months after the U.S. Commodity and Futures Trading Commission fined Bitfinex for $75,000 for offering illegal off-exchange financed commodity transactions in bitcoin and other digital currencies.

Japan Acknowledges Bitcoin As Real Money

The Japan Times reported in March that the Cabinet in Japan, through a series of bills, recognize virtual currencies like Bitcoin as asset-like values usable for making payments.

Japan from then on, in the hope of preventing money laundering and protecting consumers, required exchanges that handle virtual currencies to register with the Financial Services Agency.

The FSA reportedly began looking into new rules after MtGox shut down in 2014.

Swiss Railway Operator Enables Bitcoin Transactions

The Swiss Railway Operator SBB (CFF) in November enabled bitcoin selling functionality on their automated ticket machines. Customers could trade Swiss francs for bitcoins on the SBB ticket machines.

There have been few possibilities to obtain bitcoins in Switzerland until now, SBB said. With its 1,000-plus ticket machines, SBB operates a dense, around-the-clock distribution network thats suited for more than just ticket sales.

SBB worked with Zug-based digital payments firm SweePay to enable the functionality. Transactions were limited to between 20 and 500 Swiss francs.

Thats 2016 in Bitcoin. Coming Soon: 2017

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2010s In Bitcoin: The Year 2016 - Forbes

Im reviewing the 2010s in Bitcoin. This is the story about 2019 in Bitcoin. Read about 2018here.

2019 saw Wyoming enact sound blockchain legislation, Bakkt launch, and further normalization of Bitcoin into global financial markets. Heres 2019 in Bitcoin.

Wyomings Blockchain Legislation

The biggest news story of 2019 could very well be the work done in the State of Wyoming towards robust and progressive blockchain legislation. Establishing itself as the only US state to provide a comprehensive, welcoming legal framework that enables blockchain technology to flourish, as Caitlin Long wrote on Forbes.com, Wyoming enacted in March altogether 13 blockchain-friendly laws.

Long, who is a Forbes Senior Contributor and co-founder of the Wyoming Blockchain Coalition, worked with legislators and senators, such as Wyoming State Representative, Tyler Lindholm, Senator Ogden Driskill, and Senator Tara Nethercott, on the bills.

Wyoming spotted an opportunity to lead in this field last year, and realized it had just as many advantages in competing for this nascent industry as any other place - and more so, Long explained. Blockchain is software, so its global. A line of code doesnt care who wrote it or where it was written. As Joe Lubin said when he spoke at WyoHackathon last fall, theres no reason why the next Google cant be here in Wyoming."

Long explained: In a nutshell, thats what Wyoming has now done for blockchain technology.

Wyomings move put it at the forefront of digital asset regulation in the U.S., with over a dozen other U.S. states, as well as Congress, considering implementing Wyoming-inspired legislation. The laws recognized direct property rights for digital asset owners, created a regulatory sandbox, and authorized a new state-chartered depository institution that provides basic banking services to blockchain and other businesses. The bank must keep 100% reserves, cannot give out loans, and is available only to business depositors. The laws also enabled Wyoming banks to act as a digital asset custodian.

Wyoming now classifies digital assets in three categories, including digital securities, digital assets, and virtual currencies. Cryptocurrencies in the state are therefore treated as money.

The Bitcoin symbol looms over Bitcoin Conference 2019.

Bakkt Launches

Bakkt, a Bitcoin futures trading exchange, launched on September 23. On the first day of trading on ICE Futures U.S., there was strong industry participation in Bakkt Bitcoin Futures and the [October 2019] monthly contract had the tightest bid-offer spreads in the market, which was an exciting achievement, a Bakkt spokesperson told Forbes.com contributor Benjamin Pirus. As the only end-to-end regulated market for digital assets, Bakkt Bitcoin Futures will play a key role in bringing greater price discovery and risk management to the [b]itcoin market.

Bakkts CEO, Kelly Loeffler, was appointed in December to a seat in the US Senate representing Georgia. She was just the second woman in the states history to hold the position.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) picked Loeffler for a seat occupied by U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R), who retired at years end due to health issues. Loeffler is to be sworn into office on Jan 1. 2020, and plans to run in the next primary election to maintain her seat. Loeffler stepped down as Bakkt CEO before taking the oath of office, becomes the second woman in the state's history to hold the position.

The day after the launch, the price of Bitcoin fell more than $1,000.

BSDEX Introduces Bitcoin Trading Platform

The second-largest German Stock Exchange, Brse Stuttgart, introduced a regulated bitcoin trading platform. It is Germanys first regulated trading venue for digital assets where investors orders are executed directly against each other according to fixed rules, explained Brse Stuttgart Digital Exchange GmbH.

As of now, selected users in Germany can connect directly to the trading venue, where they can trade the bitcoin-euro pair initially, reads a press release. BSDEX will open over time to retail and institutional investors.

BSDEX will give retail and institutional investors direct access to digital assets and provide flexible and relatively low-cost trading, said Peter Grosskopf, CTO at Boerse Stuttgart Digital Exchange GmbH.

Bitcoin Cant Die

Patrick McHenry, a US Congressman from the 10th District of North Carolina, shared thoughts on how Bitcoin cant die and Facebooks Libra is a copycat coin.

I think theres no capacity to kill Bitcoin, he said. Even the Chinese with their Firewall and their extreme intervention on their society cannot kill Bitcoin. So, distributed ledger, full and open, in the essence of Bitcoin, as a first mover in the space, the developer of this technology [] My point here is, you cant kill Bitcoin.

He added: New iterations of this, that are trying to mimic it, they are not fully distributed, they are not fully open, there are different mechanisms to kill it...the essence of Bitcoin is what Facebook and Libra, and other corporations are trying to mimic.

Happy New Year!

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2010s In Bitcoin: The Year 2019 - Forbes

After reclaiming the $130 level earlier this past week, Ethereum (ETH) is currently struggling to hold above this level as bears attempt to take full control of the aggregated cryptocurrency markets.

It is important to note that ETHs current bearishness could cut deeper in the near-term, but analysts are noting that the cryptocurrencys current price action looks strikingly similar to that seen by Bitcoin when it was trading within the lower-$3,000 region in late-2018 and early-2019.

If this similarity is valid, Ethereum could be on the verge of incurring a significant amount of upwards momentum that potentially leads the crypto into a multi-month bull market throughout the early part of 2020.

At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading down marginally at its current price of $131, which marks a notable decline from its multi-day highs of over $137 that were set this past weekend.

It is important to note that although the cryptocurrency was rejected in the upper-$130 region concurrently with Bitcoins rejection at $7,500, ETH is still trading up significantly from its weekly lows of $125.

The $120 to $125 area is a key support region for the cryptocurrency, as $120 is where it bounced during its recent capitulatory sell off, and $125 is a level that bulls ardently defended for the past couple of weeks.

HornHairs, a popular cryptocurrency analyst on Twitter, explained in a recent tweet that he believes todays slight ETH sell-off may be fleeting, as it swept its range lows and was able to post a bounce at this level.

$ETH short update: May have gotten shaken out here, more setups to come. Closed for the same reason as the BTC short. The correlation with BTC and ETH led me to believe wed push up after Mondays low getting swept on BTC. +1.24R (before fees), he explained while pointing to the chart below.

Gat, a popular crypto analyst on Twitter, explained in a recent tweet that he believes Ethereums price action over the past couple of months looks strikingly similar to that seen by Bitcoin in late-2018 and early-2019 when it was trading in the lower-$3,000 region.

As much as I hate $ETH, it is giving $BTC 3k kinda vibes, he explained while pointing to the two charts seen below.

If this correlation does prove to be valid, Ethereum could see some strong upwards momentum in the early part of 2020, potentially allowing it to post massive gains.

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Ethereums Price Action is Similar to Bitcoins at $3,000: An Insane Rally is Imminent - newsBTC

Im reviewing the 2010s in Bitcoin. This is the story about 2015 in Bitcoin. Read about 2014 here.

In 2015, Ross Ulbricht was convicted of all charges in running the Silk Road; the BitLicense was fully implemented; Gizmodo and Wired suggested Craig Steven Wright might be Satoshi Nakamoto, and the block size debate picked up steam. But, thats not all that happened in 2015. Heres the review of Bitcoin in 2015.

Silk Road Trial

In early 2015, through the Silk Road trial, the world learned that, despite media and popular culture perception, Bitcoin is not anonymous.

A jury found on February 4 Ross Ulbricht guilty of all charges. He was Dread Pirate Roberts, the handle behind Silk Road. Sentenced in May to double life imprisonment plus forty years, Ulbricht faced no possibility of parole.

On the ninth day of the trial, the prosecution called key witness Ilhwan Yum, an FBI special agent and cyber security expert, who showed how bitcoin transactions are not anonymous, despite the misconception in media and popular culture of otherwise.

Yum demonstrated that in a 12-month period more than 700,000 bitcoins had been transferred from the Silk Road bitcoin wallet directly to a wallet on Ross Ulbrichts laptop. Agent Yum searched the bitcoin blockchain for transactions involving the bitcoin addresses found in the Silk Road wallet and those on Ross Ulbrichts laptop. He discovered direct transactions between them.

Bitcoin therefore provides the ultimate paper trail for law enforcement agencies, tax authorities and compliance professionals, wrote Tom Robinson, co-founder of Elliptic, a company that detected and investigated cybercrime involving cryptocurrencies.

The backdrop at Bitcoin Conference 2019

Block Size Debate & July 2015 Flood Attack

The Block Size debate was taken up a notch in 2015. The Bitcoin community debated whether or not to implement a code change to increase the size of the blocks on the Bitcoin blockchain. Gavin Andresen, who inherited lead engineer duties for Bitcoin from Satoshi Nakamoto, argued for increasing the block size. He argued that Bitcoin could not handle a large increase in transactions, and proposed BIP101, a bigger blocks proposal, also known as Bitcoin XT.

In July 2015, a Chinese mining pool, F2Pool, mined the biggest Bitcoin transaction that ever hit the blockchain. At 999 kilobytes, it took up an entire block. The now defunct CoinWallet.eu had sent tens of thousands of transactions across the bitcoin blockchain on multiple occasions.

By stress testing the system, we hope to make a clear case for the increased block size by demonstrating the simplicity of a large scale spam attack on the network, stated the company.

BitLicense

The BitLicense was implemented in August. No fewer than 10 bitcoin companies said they would stop all business in New York State due to the new regulations.

The New York Business Journal, in a story written by Forbes editor Michael del Castillo, called this the Great Bitcoin Exodus.

ShapeShift was the first business to leave. Bitcoin and blockchain technology have enabled a new standard of financial privacy and consumer protection Unfortunately, in spite of the technological achievements that now protect consumers, some jurisdictions have legally mandated the continued extraction of sensitive private information, the company wrote on its website.

The note compared New York State with North Korea. Fortune called it quite a statement by a buzzy startup and a big name in the bitcoin community.

NYDFS told Fortune: We always recognized that there is going to be some part of this community that is against even pretty standard financial regulatory oversight measures, such as anti-money laundering controls and other consumer protections. That said, one digital currency company has already received a license from NYDFS and a number of others have stated they intend to seek BitLicenses shortly. Ultimately, we believe that prudent regulation will be important to building greater consumer confidence in digital currency and sparking wider adoption.

NYDFS granted Circle Internet Financial the first BitLicense in September 2015.

Craig Steven Wright

Based on the tip of an anonymous person, Wired and Gizmodo both suggested in December 2015 that Craig Wright might be Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin. Documents provided to Gizmodo suggested that Wright, an Australian businessman, and Dave Kleiman, an American computer forensics expert who in 2013 passed away, together developed Bitcoin.

After the release of the reports, police promptly raided Wrights home and office. The Australian Federal police denied the raids were related to the claims that Wright founded Bitcoin.

The AFP can confirm it has conducted search warrants to assist the Australian Taxation Office at a residence in Gordon and a business premises in Ryde, Sydney. This matter is unrelated to recent media reporting regarding the digital currency bitcoin.

80% of Bitcoin Trading Volume Conducted in Chinese Yuan

Goldman Sachs released in March a report contending that 80 percent of the Bitcoin volume is driven by the Chinese yuan. The U.S. dollar ranked as the second most used currency for transactions, followed by the euro.

China registered high trading activity despite the Peoples Bank of China having banned in December 2014 financial institutions from bitcoin trading. "However, in light of a somewhat stabilizing Bitcoin economy in China, a few payment processors have reemerged, such as BTC China's JustPay, wrote Goldman Sachs.

The bank added: Bitcoin and other crypto currencies enable the potential for faster transactions with lower transaction fees. The Bitcoin network can charge as little as zero for processing transactions if there is no time constraint for confirmation."

Greek Bank Closures Leads to Uptick in Bitcoin Interest

Bank closures in Greece to prevent a financial collapse led to an uptick of activity on Bitcoin trading platforms. German marketplace Bitcoin.de told CNNMoney that ten times as many Greeks were registering to trade bitcoins than before the crisis, with Bitcoin trading in Greece increasing 79% from their ten-week average on Bitstamp, the worlds third-largest Bitcoin exchange at the time.

The Shanghai-based LakeBTC saw a 40% increase in visitors from Greece, and Polish exchange Bitcurex claimed to receive many emails from Greeks asking questions about Bitcoin.

The CFTC Classifies Bitcoin As Commodity

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) classified in September Bitcoin as a commodity, like gold and oil.

CFTC holds that bitcoin and other virtual currencies are a commodity covered by the commodity exchange act, the regulator said in a statement.

Aitan Goelman, the CFTCs director of enforcement, noted that while there is a lot of excitement surrounding bitcoin...innovation does not excuse those acting in this space from following the same rules applicable to all participants in the commodity derivatives markets.

Coinbase Raises $75 Million and Bitcoin Unicode

Those werent the only stories revolving around Bitcoin in 2015, of course. The New York Stock Exchange was a minority investor in Coinbases 2015 $75 million funding round, for instance

And, in November, the Unicode Committee, which sets the standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing system, adopted the bitcoin currency symbol so that it would eventually be easily typed on computers and devices.

Thats 2015 in Bitcoin. Coming soon: The Year 2016.

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The 2010s In Bitcoin: The Year 2015 - Forbes

Im reviewing the 2010s in Bitcoin. This is the story about 2017 in Bitcoin. Read about 2016here.

The price of Bitcoin reached in December 2017 nearly $20,000 per bitcoin. The bitcoin price traded between $930 and $978 on December 29, 2016, and surpassed $1,000 on New Years Day 2017, then $5,000 in October, and $10,000 in November.

On the news front, the year didnt start out so hot for Bitcoin. The Peoples Bank of China met in January with major bitcoin exchanges and advised them to adhere to the relevant laws and regulations.

Bitcoin saw a drop in trading volume due to new trading fees implemented by Chinese exchanges Huobi, OKCoin, and BTCC. OKCoin and Huobi would soon thereafter halt withdrawals for an entire month, in order to undergo an upgrade.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected in March the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, an exchange-traded fund, for which the twins had first filed in 2013. Bitcoin immediately sold off, with the price falling 18%, from almost $1,300 to $1,060.

"[T]he Commission is disapproving this proposed rule change because it does not find the proposal to be consistent with Section 6(b)(5) of the Exchange Act, which requires, among other things, that the rules of a national securities exchange be designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices and to protect investors and the public interest,the SEC stated.

Organizer David Bailey concludes Bitcoin Conference 2019.

The agency said a Bitcoin ETF would need "surveillance-sharing agreements with significant markets for trading the underlying commodity or derivatives on that commodity. And second, those markets must be regulated."

The twins didnt sweat it. "We remain optimistic and committed to bringing COIN [the proposed ticker] to market, and look forward to continuing to work with the SEC staff, Tyler Winklevoss, chief financial officer of Digital Asset Services, stated. We began this journey almost four years ago, and are determined to see it through. We agree with the SEC that regulation and oversight are important to the health of any marketplace and the safety of all investors."

Just days after the ruling, the Bitcoin price had climbed back to its pre-ETF decision price.Then, between May and September, the Bitcoin price rocketed. Bitcoin set a new all-time high after all-time high before a brief correction.

At the end of May, Bitcoin increased to more than $2,000 for the first time ever, and weeks later it broke through $3,000.But, one day after Bitcoin surpassed $3,000, the price fell $300 in one hour.

The Bitcoin price eclipsed $5,000 the first week of September, but fell below $3,400 on September 14. One day later, the price fell below $3,000.

Amid the price increase, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in September that Bitcoin is a fraud.

Its worse than tulip bulbs, Dimon said at CNBC-Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha. It wont end well. Someone is going to get killed.

He added: Its just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed.

By mid-October, the price of Bitcoin had yet again surpassed $5,000. In November and December, the price went even more parabolic. Bitcoin hit nearly $18,000 on December 15, which was a more than 1,700 percent increase since the start of the year and an 80% increase in December alone.

Between December 16-17, the price of Bitcoin increased 5% in 24 hours to it's all-time high of $19,783.06, a 1,824% increase since Jan. 1.

One of the biggest market corrections Bitcoin has seen to date followed, as the price fell below $11,000. The Bitcoin price swiftly increased yet again to more than $16,000, but, by Dec. 28, had fallen to about $13,500. It ended the year 2017 at just above $14,000.

Thats 2017 in Bitcoin. Coming soon: 2018.

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2010s In Bitcoin: The Year 2017 - Forbes

Todays mid-week daily close in Bitcoin price charts carries significantly more weight than usual, as New Years Eve marks the last day of the calendar year, and the crypto assets yearly candle close.

If the leading crypto asset by market cap closes today at current prices around $7,250, the yearly candle will close with the largest wick on record, clearly showing the failed parabolic rally that occurred around mid-year 2019.

Bitcoin price charts can be viewed across multiple timeframes, with the most significant being given to the largest and longest timeframes.

Crypto traders and analysts often pay particularly close attention to daily, weekly, or monthly price charts in order to get a better grasp on the market and the trend underway.

Related Reading | Past Performance Shows Bitcoin Historic High Could Serve As True Bear Market Bottom

And while yearly price charts arent as oft used as the other, longer timeframes, they can be helpful in looking at the bigger overall picture.

One crypto analyst has shared a yearly Bitcoin price chart on Twitter and invited others from the community to do what they do best and speculate on what the yearly candle close means for the crypto asset, and what is expected for the following years close.

The candle itself while green does show a failed rally in the form of a massive wick that stopped at prior yearly resistance. The wick is also the largest ever recorded in Bitcoin price on yearly candles, as even 2017s peak has a $6,000 range from wick peak to candle body close, whereas this years reaches from the current price of $7,250 all the way to $14,000 representing a $6,750 long wick.

Analysts responding to the thread suggest that because this years candle is closing at under 50% of 2017s candle, 2020s yearly close is expected to be red.

For 2020 to close red, Bitcoin price would need to end next year lower than whatever the price closes at when the clock strikes 7PM ET tonight. Another year of sideways or downtrend would likely be too much for many crypto investors who have been holding through two full years of a bear market already.

Others, however, say that the next years candle will close green, filling out the wick of 2019 with continued price action until Bitcoin eventually sets a new high.

Related Reading | Heres What $100 in Bitcoin Would Have Made Next To The Decades Best Investments

While many crypto investors are already thinking about 2020, Bitcoin price still needs to close the daily candle tonight to put 2019 in the history books for good, and set its sights on a new year or trading.

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Bitcoin Price Yearly Candle Shows Failed Rally, Longest Wick on Record - newsBTC

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The last day of 2019 Bitcoin (BTC) is ending on a bearish note, as well as most of the other top 10 coins. Tezos(XTZ) is the exception to the rule as its rate has gone up by more than 3% in the last 24 hours.

Apart from the rates of the various cryptocurrencies, the total market capitalization has continued to decline and currently sits at $191.6 billion.

Below is the relevant data for Bitcoin and how it's looking at press time:

Name: Bitcoin

Ticker: BTC

Market Cap:$132,003,957,232

Price:$7,279.83

Volume (24H):$21,750,610,963

Change (24H): -1.24%

BTC/USD: Expected Drop on December 31

There is not much in terms of volatility, which usually happens around the holidays and directly affects the trading volume index. Currently, Bitcoin's level continues to trend downwards, and the overall volume totaling $9.2 billion.

Looking at the 4H chart, the largest cryptocurrency is stuck within a triangle pattern with the possibility of a downwards trend.

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This downward trend is supported by a decline in the trading volume and a failure to fix above the $7,500 level. In this particular case, the zone between $7,000-$7,100 looks like a possible stopping point.

Looking at the daily chart, the picture is even more bearish. The 50-Day and 100-Day Moving Average (MA) lines continue to trend downwards without any signs of a possible reversal pattern. Moreover, the 200-Day MA confirms the presence of sellers. To sum up, there is a high probability of seeing BTC go below $7,000 during the first month of 2020.

At press time, Bitcoin is trading at $7,215.

Read more:

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Prediction: Expecting Any Surprises on January 1, 2020? - U.Today

A misguided euphoria rising from the phase one deal between the US and China could help bitcoin becoming one of the most profitable investments in 2020.

The offbeat asset has been pursuing a flat trajectory ever since Washington and Beijing reached an initial agreement. It spent its entire December in a tight range defined by $7,000 and $7,600, barring a short-term dump-and-pump action that took the price below $6,500.

Price has been fluctuating in an 8% range all December | Source: TradingView.com

The bitcoins price sideways action came against the backdrop of a cheerful equity market. Global stocks hit their historic highs on the news of a positive mini-deal with the US benchmark S&P 500 reaching its highest level since 2013.

The initial agreement between the US and China appeared modest, for Beijingpromised to address two of the major concerns raised by President Donald Trump. First, they increased imports of certain US goods, including energy and agricultural products; and second, they agreed to take a tougher stance on intellectual property rights.

In return, Washington suspended December tariffs on Chinese goods. It decorated the deal further with a partial rollback of the September tariffs.

The huge upside moves in the equity market that followed the phase one deal showed investors faith in a long-term positive outlook. But so it appears, the agreement between the two global superpowers is no less than a soft landing.

Gregory Draco, the chief US economist at Oxford Economics, believes that both the US and Chinas efforts cannot compensate for the damages that have been done to the economy in the past 18 months.

He wrote that removing US tariffs on Chinese goods would boost growth only by small margins anywhere between 0.2 percent to 0.4 percent.The thinktank further noted that Chinas decision to avoid extra stimulus programs will limit its growth rate to about 6 percent.

Financial trend reader Nordea Markets also iterated the same in its latest analysis, noting that the phase one deal could at best minimize downside risks. Excerpts from their investor note:

The most important outcome of the deal is that both sides promised not to raise tariffs further, as was initially planned. This clearly removes one downside risk in the global economy for 2020, although Chinas unwillingness to move forward with structural reforms implies that its challenges with trade relations will continue.

The risks attached with a positively perceived mini-deal was also visible in the recent gains of a so-called benchmark haven.

Gold surprised traders in the past weeks after rising in tandem with equity markets. According toRBC Wealth Management managing director George Gero, the yellow metals surge is a reminder of investors huge appetite for hedging assets.

You had creeping up interest rates, record stock markets and the dollar index trading close to 97. When gold is not responding to the usual headwinds, it is a positive sign for the price, Gero told Kitko News. Its a hedge against a possibility of surprising negative news. By ignoring negativity in technicals, gold has turned somewhat positive.

The phase one deal has not minimized prevalent market risks. That means bitcoin could still gain a small piece as capital starts shifting from overbought equities to hedging assets like Gold.

The money does not have to come from institutional investors. Speculation within the industry alone could drive money into the bitcoin markets. That includes capital coming from neighboring, overhyped alternative cryptocurrencies (or altcoins).

The bitcoins 200 percent price rally during the 2019s second quarter has shown the cryptocurrencys capability as an asset that can behave as a hedge against the trade war. And it is not ending soon, as long as the US and China fight with each other for the top global positioning in the economy, politics, and technology.

Overall, it is one of the best recipes for making bitcoin more bullish. Even halving cannot promise that.

Read the original:

Bitcoin to Benefit More from Trade War in 2020 than Halving - newsBTC