From the $20,000 mark back down to $7,000 Bitcoin is generally on the low, and with Google, Facebook and Twitter's decision to ban all ads related to ICOs, it's clear the world isn't on cryptoculture's side.

What are your thoughts on the future of crypto investment/bitcoin and the rise of other currencies? Are you confident the cryptowave will continue to reach the shores of new investors? Find out in this week’s Your Thoughts.

Andrew Pritchard, MD Blockchain, 10x Growth Account:

It’s been a tough time for Bitcoin and crypto investors as the markets continues to go backwards. The bears have continued to win the battle against the bulls pushing the price of BTC and most altcoins further downwards. But, what is causing the drop in the markets?

There are several influences that are helping the bears as the cryptomarket struggles to gain any forward momentum.

Firstly, increasing regulatory framework (this is a short term negative issue but will ultimately be a very positive outcome) as each time the SEC/FCA, or any regulatory body for that matter, announces new regulations, even if supporting crypto, the markets react negatively.

The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney called for greater regulation of cryptocurrencies and in Japan, punishment notices were issued to several exchanges while forcing some to halt trading entirely.

Secondly, the Mt Gox Bitcoin dump has been affecting the market for a few weeks as thousands and thousands of Bitcoins have been put on the market to be sold. This increased supply and cooled demand has led to further downward pressure on the price of Bitcoin. Basic economics of supply and demand has reduced the price. I.E Supply increases and demand remains constant or reduces, then price will fall.

However, as a positive supporter of the Cryptomarket, it is only a matter of time before the bulls return. Yes, Bitcoin’s price has taken a beating the past ten days due to major events negatively impacting market sentiment. However, one thing remains exceptionally clear. Blockchain technology is here to stay.

The next 6 months for major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, is likely to be very, very bullish, as the public start to enter market with easier routes such as Coinbase and Barclays collaboration on faster payment methods.

Savva Kerdemelidis, Legal Adviser, LegalEdge:

The technology and protocol behind cryptocurrencies brings an exciting method to transact in a new and more efficient way. So long as cryptocurrencies can achieve mainstream adoption beyond simply being a "store of value", then there remains a significant potential for growth. As with the dotcom era, we’ll see winners and many losers. In my view, the potential for cryptocurrencies is just beginning. I expect to see new applications and use cases, particularly around governance or decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs).

Although there’s been a lot of hype, cryptocurrency has not reached mainstream retail investors. Technological barriers have led to a lack of access and the risk of losing your investment, for example, by losing your password or transferring funds to an incompatible wallet. At the same time, regulatory risk has been a real factor in terms of curbing take-up. Both investment and adoption will increase once these barriers decrease and are better understood, with the availability of user-friendly applications.

If you look at investors, most of them have taken over 50% losses since the new year. Naturally this has impacted the appetite for ICOs and other investments. However, many will likely ride it out until June or July when the market is expected to recover.

Samuel Leach, FX Trader and Founder, Samuel & Co. Trading and Yield Coin:

With the recent news of Facebook and Twitter banning cryptocurrency adverts and Google potentially following suit in June 2018, it cannot be denied that there is a negative feeling around crypto.

Regulatory bodies such as the ICO, FCA, and GBX are also becoming more vocal; with new regulations being created and set to be enforced in the coming months. This is causing unease among potential investors as they are reluctant to invest in a market that currently doesn’t have widespread regulation, and which could risk them becoming uncompliant in the future. As such, crypto is in a limbo stage where current investors are cashing out and potential investors are hesitant to part with their money.

In reaction to the continuous stream of negative feeling surrounding the crypto market, cash outs are increasing at an unprecedented rate. This won’t recover until governments and regulatory bodies align and have a consistent strategy and overall view point on the crypto market. Therefore, it is possible we could see Bitcoin bottom out to $6,500. However, I believe we will see the markets hover around $9,000 in the short term, until there is more clarification around the wider view of the market.

Kevin Murcko, CEO, CoinMetro:

Prices between various cryptocurrencies are linked to an extent; when Bitcoin goes up, Ethereum or XRP, for example, will often follow suit. This is no different to how company stocks tend to follow the direction of the general market, their sector or industry rivals. For instance, a negative financial report for one retail stock often drags down other retail stocks as “guilt by association” turns things bearish for the whole sector. Cryptocurrencies are just as exposed to this effect if not more given the fact that the money flows currently are mainly from retail investors, who are much more susceptible to following the trend.

It is unlikely that 6-11k is the new range for BTC. The simple fact that it has existed far above these ranges for prolonged periods is an indicator that the floor and ceiling have not been set at all yet. Rather, BTC is still free-floating, and until the market as a whole becomes more regimented, a stable floor and ceiling won’t exist for any of the assets.

Increased stability is important for the future of crypto, as well as for overcoming the sector’s perceived reputation for being a poor store of value. In part, price stability will come from the introduction of more national and harmonised global regulatory oversight. This will allow for more institutional involvement and the creation of liquidity by way of synthetic instruments like futures, ETNs, ETFs, etc. It will also come from the realization amongst the general public that, like all investments, crypto does carry risk. As with other securities, prices are liable to go up or down.

Corrections have occurred, but it’s important not to think of crypto prices myopically: the price of bitcoin, for example, is today roughly 700 percent of what it was this time last year. Long-term, cryptocurrencies remain viable multitrillion-dollar assets.

Drew Bell, Chief Developer, Ethercoin:

The future is bright for crypto investment, as eventually the market will stabilise and become a more manageable platform. The market has a lot of potential for development and it’s about time businesses started accepting it, rather than ignoring it as sooner or later, their customers will catch on the trend and look for businesses that support the crypto industry.

There will always be an air of skepticism around digital currency, because it is not a tangible product, and people have a hard time understanding its true value.

I really believe that cryptocurrency will replace more traditional forms of currencies in the next 10 -15 years, especially with the growth and adoption that Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple has already seen. If that growth continues and we see more currencies reaching these heights, who knows just what the future holds for this new era of payment and investment.

The key to cryptocurrency breaking through to the mainstream and reaching new investors is all about trust. If you don’t build a relationship with your investors that is centered around trust and transparency, you can’t expect them to believe in your project. At a time when it seems the world is against a new form of payment, cryptos have to be on top of their game more so now than ever before.

Even though cryptocurrency is built on blockchain, the volatility of the market is clear and can therefore deter some investors. It can be extremely difficult for cryptos to instill trust in potential investors, especially as tech giants Google, Facebook and now Twitter have banned cryptocurrency ads, making it even harder for currencies to secure investment and appeal to potential customers.

It is clear there is a lack of understanding from key players in the financial industry about this new disruptive technology, therefore highlighting the need for more mainstream education so the market can continue to grow and develop for the future.

Kerim Derhalli, CEO, Invstr:

Cryptocurrencies are here to stay but, as with any emerging market, they must undergo a transition that will eventually attract the mainstream investor.

In my opinion, that transition will entail a few important steps, firstly, in regards to scalability, which will see blockchain evolve to handle more throughput. Currently, sharding techniques have increased transactions per second from seven in traditional blockchain to 3,000 in alternative blockchains. This still falls well short of the typical 20,000 or more credit card transactions per second.

Security is critical too. Digital exchanges and wallets are secure until they are not. Anonymity and the lack of a custodian make the operational risks far greater in cryptocurrencies that in traditional financial assets. Improvements in security will be needed before cryptocurrencies represent a serious challenge to other financial assets as a store of wealth. With a July deadline set by the G20 for unified regulation of cryptocurrency, coming alongside the launch of a dedicated UK task force, things are moving in the right direction.

Fundamentally, there is still also a lack of education around cryptocurrencies among investors. The number of currencies, tokens and assets is growing at a far faster pace than our collective comprehension and most people are still struggling with the basic concepts. Once the currency starts to achieve some real, commercial utility and we are more easily able to earn, spend, save and invest in cryptocurrencies, understanding and overall acceptance will increase.

Ivan Gowan, CEO, Capital.com:

The cryptowave is only going to build more momentum in the next 12 to 18 months. Just two weeks ago Barclays announced a partnership with a leading crypto company to facilitate payments to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin, the most established crypto assets. This may reflect a trend of major financial institutions moving away from outright denunciation of cryptocurrencies to a cautious participation, marking a significant shift in their approach and making these assets much more accessible to new investors.

Cryptocurrencies are seeing a remarkable increase in transparency, further improving trust. There are now a number of companies specialising in interrogating the blockchain of Bitcoin, establishing whether the currency has been used in any potentially illegal transactions on the dark web. This could make a huge difference to the willingness of those new to the market to invest in the currency. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies still labour under a perception of being used for dodgy dealings in dark corners of the internet, but with the increase in transparency, investors will feel much more comfortable putting their money into this market.

Of course, there are many ICOs that do not go through the proper regulatory procedures before launching, and it is these less-than-scrupulous organisations that are prompting Facebook and Google banning ICO advertising. However, there are many players in the market, backed by some of the biggest venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, that are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees to ensure that they align completely with whichever regulatory environment that they operate in. We are increasingly seeing leading regulators, such as FINMA and the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, embracing this innovation, issuing guidance and frameworks to companies looking to issue an ICO to ensure they do so responsibly and effectively. Smaller investors, who could be priced out of investing in exciting tech stocks like Amazon and Facebook, can access fantastic opportunities with ICOs, either getting in on the ground floor in the initial offering, or when the coin is listed on an exchange.

The ICO industry is currently something of a Wild West scenario. However, we are also at the early stages of what will be a transformative asset class. There is no doubt that we will see a number of new investors in cryptocurrencies and assets increase as the market matures, as regulators get up to speed with the technology, as the big banks begin to adopt more open-minded positions and as the transparency of cryptocurrency transaction history continues to improve.

Zafar Kanani, Network Manager, Forbury Investment Network:

It is difficult to predict the future path of cryptocurrencies, though it would be safe to say that they will likely continue to proliferate, and that regulation will increasingly become a consistent feature of the landscape.

With an ever-increasing pool of choices – there are now over 1,000 cryptocurrencies – anyone considering an investment should take the time to conduct thorough diligence and invest only what they can afford to lose, especially given the growing evidence of fraudulent activity. The likes of Twitter, Google and Facebook have gone so far as to ban cryptocurrency and ICO related ads due to concerns of reputational damage resulting from users unwittingly investing in fraudulent cryptocurrencies advertised on their platforms.

Despite Bitcoin, the best-known cryptocurrency, now trading at less than half its peak in December, there is no shortage of demand from investors across all cryptocurrencies. Many cryptocurrencies have and continue to be endorsed by celebrities, further fuelling interest and growth.

Alongside these developments, the increasingly disparate range of cryptocurrency applications is engaging a broader set of stakeholders than ever. The emergence of a ‘civic’ cryptocurrency, for example, has gained momentum as a mechanism to crowdfund capital for local projects for the public good. The city of Berkeley, California, has plans for such a cryptocurrency to generate funding for affordable housing amongst other public needs.

Daniel Wolfe, CEO, Tradingene:

Personally, my confidence in crypto is undiminished, despite the recent losses. I am confident that investors will have ample opportunity to ride the cryptocurrency wave up. However, they shouldn’t expect to generate quick returns and they need to be prepared for potential extended periods of volatility before we see a consistent upward trajectory.

There is always hysteria surrounding cryptocurrencies, but many fail to grasp that it is the transformative and disruptive nature of Blockchain which will ultimately bring rewards to those who invest wisely. Investors who follow the settled rules of investment, especially diversification, will be the big winners.

However, liquidity may be hard to come by and severe losses are a possibility.

Cryptocurrencies currently consist around 0.3-0.4% of the global fiat money supply. Therefore, if you believe, as I and many other experts do, that crypto will rise over the next five years to at least five percent or so of M2, then that is a tremendous return for investors.

They will just need to be prepared to stomach the turbulence.

Adrian Daniels, Corporate Partner, Yigal Arnon:

The cryptowave will continue to reach the shores of new investors. This is not to say that there will not be changes in form, size and type of cryptocurrencies, but the wave is now a tide and it's only going in one direction. But let's go back to some basics. The "cryptowave" is based on what is known as blockchain protocols, which is a kind of software that allows data to be stored digitally on a record that is held on the computers of 1000’s of people (or nodes) across the world. This allows people who do not know each other to complete transactions without fear of being cheated. This is so, because those nodes will hold a record of each transaction in an encrypted manner on the blockchain which cannot then be undone. As a result those transactions cannot be falsified without hacking 1000's of computers simultaneously and altering their records. Consequently, there is no centralized authority and no simple way to fake transactions. Bitcoin introduced the blockchain technology almost a decade ago, since which time the technology has become vastly more versatile and sophisticated, with smart (or self-executing) contracts capable of allowing the transfer of data, goods and services in a secure and verifiable manner without any "middle-men" like banks, ad-agencies, internet traffic aggregators, and a whole bunch of other third parties which make online commerce far less efficient and much more expensive. What does all this mean, it means the technology has uses that we have only just started to imagine. Since the blockchain can store any data and each block cannot be changed, any activity can be recorded on the blockchain. This means that the blockchain can ensure that people can be incentivized for contributing to the chain, which will have enormous knock-on effects on commerce, politics, regulations and science, among others. The blockchain will also likely change how or even if we bank – we will be able to keep all of our banking records on the chain, to which each of us will be the only one with the encryption key. Our medical records will be held exclusively by us, and will be shared only with whom we wish.

ICO’s are all supposed to be based on blockchain technology. The problem has been that a lot of them were fraudulent from the get-go, and others were pipe dreams with nothing behind them. A smaller number have related to companies offering great blockchain and smart contract ideas. As the number of ICO's has grown, the regulators have become increasingly involved, to the point where the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has largely put the brakes on public ICOs (as opposed to sophisticated investors, who in theory have the wherewithal to look after themselves) in the US. As the regulators untangle the knot, public ICO's will slow down and private ICO’s to sophisticated investors will take their place. This somewhat undermines the whole “democratization” of the investment process that the ICO’s were supposed to have brought us, but it may only be a phase before clearer regulations are adopted to safeguard the public in general. Additionally, we will see larger numbers of companies offering cryptocurrencies that look much more like a token you can use for a purpose (utility token) than a share. However, as the result of increased oversight will be fewer chancers bottling air and making millions, I think we will see an increasing numbers of offerings by brilliant entrepreneurs with profoundly disruptive, highly innovative and world changing products. To hijack Winston Churchill’s famous phrase: “This isn’t the end, it isn’t even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the end of the beginning. But what the end will be, I think is hard for us to yet imagine.”

If you have thoughts on this, please feel free to comment below and let us know Your Thoughts.

With ICOs at the forefront of cryptoculture worldwide, blockchain technology is predominantly being driven by digital currencies and their markets, but why? Below Finance Monthly hears from Drew Bell, Chief Developer at Ethercoin, who explains why.

2018 is set to be an even bigger year for Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) than 2017, with more startup’s turning to the fundraising method to remain in control and transparent in the process. According to a report by CNBC^[1], around $100million a month is raised via ICO’s, showing the demand is increasingly prominent between investors and individuals.

However, as with many emerging trends, ICOs have been met with some scepticism and criticism. Before new businesses start jumping on this trend to become the next blockchain success, it is important to understand the challenges it might face and why trust should be built into the core of its offering.

Whilst there can be fraudulent ICOs, businesses and mainstream audiences need educating and to be made aware that ICOs are a viable fundraising mechanism.

The fastest growing form of investment

There’s no denying the fact that ICOs, “the fastest growing form of investment” carries numerous benefits for businesses looking to generate significant ROI without having to seek out venture capitalists. An Initial Coin Offering can be created by just about anyone, and offers businesses an efficient and streamlined fundraising opportunity.

Aside from the obvious benefits like being able to streamline a fundraising campaign for a startup business, by conducting a decentralised application, users will be offered a much better experience.

There is also the added benefits of online marketing, where an ICO can be marketed to a large, global targeted audience with little effort and cost. Potential investors can therefore research about a particular ICO via online ads, social media and websites no matter where in the world they might of originated from. The ICO investment model is open to everyone and free from the geographical restraints associated with IPOs.

An unpredictable market

It’s widely known that the blockchain and cryptocurrency market is an unpredictable place, where the majority of business see it as a sure fire way to attract investors who are looking for the next big blockchain score. Yes, an ICO looks to be an easier and more cost-effective way to raise funds for your business, but it can be just as challenging as as securing a venture capital; but you do have more control.

One of the biggest challenges a new business can face when journeying down the ICO route is the sheer amount of competition. In an interview with Business Insider, the founder of Evercoin announced there were around 30 new ICOs launching everyday, and raising as much as $200million per ICO^[2]. Businesses need to make sure they are distinguishing themselves from such a saturated market with a strong unique selling point that will not only put them ahead of the game, but generate interest and a buzz amongst investors. With so many ICO projects not having an effective marketing plan and channels to promote themselves, they can get lost in the sea of ICO scams that take centre stage.

Essential to make a difference

ICO’s are essential for businesses wanting to enter the market, and to be able to thrive, ICOs need regulatory safeguards to be implemented and investors need to be educated. Trust should be at the forefront of any businesses fundraising project, and one of the first steps to building trust is for businesses to create an extensive whitepaper and detailed roadmap.

Due to the volatile nature of the blockchain technology, it can be hard to understand the true nature of the transaction during an ICO sale. Businesses should ensure they offer a safe and secure platform to boast legitimacy can help to instill trust amongst investors.

Communication is the key to success with generating trust amongst the blockchain market. By using social media to engage and update its audiences, investors will start to feel empowered and as if they are a part of the process. This will promote a higher level of transparency and result in more investment.

In today’s unstable and saturated blockchain market, it is essential that businesses looking to start on their fundraising journey are putting security, transparency and trust at the forefront of raising capital to maintain solid investment and build credibility amongst investors.

^[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/09/initial-coin-offerings-surpass-early-stage-venture-capital-funding.html

^[2] http://uk.businessinsider.com/ico-initial-coin-offering-explained-bitcoin-ethereum-2017-11?r=US&IR=T

Do you dream of becoming a Bitcoin billionaire? A brand new tool could be just what you need to make the best investment choices. Using detailed historical data across the past 14 months, Cryptocurrencies: Past, Present and Future makes cutting-edge predictions for the future of the top 10 virtual currencies.

Using an exclusive, handcrafted algorithm, this Cryptocurrency predictor feeds historical data on price, trade volume, market cap and online popularity through a variety of analytical tools, including a Recurrent Neural Network, to forecast the exact rise and fall of ten chart-topping cryptocurrencies.

The ten virtual currencies monitored within the piece include:

• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Ripple
• Bitcoin Cash
• Litecoin
• Cardano
• NEO
• Stellar
• EOS
• IOTA

If you’re concerned about being overwhelmed by numbers, all of the cryptocurrencies are explained in a handy, bitesize format. What’s more, the numerical information is displayed in easy-to-read data visualisations, allowing you to compare cryptocurrencies side-by-side.

Price: projected change from 11th March 2018 to 6th May 2018

Despite the value of cryptocurrencies being constantly on the move, the algorithm reveals that Bitcoin Cash will skyrocket by $1,247.73 per unit to $2,209.68 if it continues on its predicted path - so is definitely one to look at if you’re tempted to invest.

Similarly, Chinese-produced NEO looks another strong contender for most valuable currency in the near future, with a projected increase of 145%.

Ethereum, meanwhile, is highly encouraged to be avoided, since it is charted to lose the most value, falling by a staggering $237.79 per unit. It doesn’t have the biggest percentage drop, though. That dubious honour belongs to Stellar, which is predicted to fall a shocking 87% in the next two months.

Market Cap: projected change from 11th March 2018 to 6th May 2018

With Market Cap (Price multiplied by Circulating Supply), we’d expect the price to somewhat influence the projected value and percentage change. But what is even more interesting is how much changes in price influence the Market Cap.

As you would expect, Bitcoin Cash’s ceiling looks ready to rocket up by more than $20 billion to accommodate an increase in price - as we saw from the previous table. Similarly, NEO’s leap in unit value will be accompanied by the Market Cap expanding by an impressive 162%.

It’s more bad news for both Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin and Stellar creator Jed McCaleb though - as Ethereum’s overall cap is projected to plummet by $26 billion to reflect the drop in price, along with Stellar bottoming out with a devastating 90% fall.

Online Popularity: projected change from 11th March 2018 to 6th May 2018

It’s not all market based, however. A detailed exploration of Google Trends data makes it possible to assess the Online Popularity of each cryptocurrency.

This time round, NEO has pipped Bitcoin Cash to the post with the highest search volume both historically and projected in the future, topping even the most well known of cryptocurrencies at a predicted 268% interest and suggesting a rapidly growing interest. On the other hand, IOTA has seen the largest percentage drop off, slated to fall by 53% over the next few months - which might be emblematic of the smaller cryptocurrencies catching the eye but then fizzling out shortly after.

Trade Volume: projected change from 11th March 2018 to 6th May 2018

Finally, Trade Volume projections reveal that Bitcoin (not Bitcoin Cash) is on a path to increase its projected value by a whopping $1.4 billion - the highest of all of the cryptocurrencies.

Though it may not have topped the chart this time round, Bitcoin Cash is still keeping up its high hopes across the board with a promising projection of increasing its volume by more than $1.3 billion by May - a 300% increase. Rounding off the success stories is fan favourites NEO, their trade volume set to soar by a remarkable 563% percentage increase - something we’re sure that the NEO team and potential investors will be thrilled by.

On a less happy note, however, Ethereum still appears set to bomb with a forecasted volume drop of $118 million - the biggest fall of any listed competitor.

More bad news is set for Stellar too, with a -67% percentage drop in trade volume predicted on the horizon. This follows a string of percentage decreases for Stellar. Of course we are speculating, but this could be due to the accessibility of this particular cryptocurrency as it cannot be bought via credit card and can only be obtained through a cryptocurrency exchange - quite a risky move if you ask us!

(Source: Cryptocurrenciesprediction)

Electroneum, the first British cryptocurrency, has reported a successful first month of its mobile mining BETA trial, giving millions of smartphone users global access to mine cryptocurrency through their mobile devices.

Electroneum’s worldwide survey of over 44,000 participants saw 93% of users being young males, 64% labelled “crypto newbies” and 56% anticipating they will use the mobile mining experience all the time.

Designed to be the most user friendly and mainstream cryptocurrency in the world, Electroneum is the first company of its kind to offer mobile mining on the go, helping with the adoption of cryptocurrency into the mainstream market.

The mobile mining experience is a simulation of real computer mining, which allows users to obtain Electroneum coins whilst playing ‘games’ to increase the amount of coins they receive. The survey also found that a quarter (24.7%) of its users were located in North America, home to one of the largest bitcoin mining data centres, with Europe (21.9%) following closely behind.

Richard Ells, CEO and Founder of Electroneum said: “The past couple of years has seen a significant shift within the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin increasing its value at an exponential rate in 2017 alone. However, Bitcoin can be difficult to get hold of, trade in and spend so with the creation of our mobile mining BETA trial we know it will provide our users with the freedom, security and accessibility which you get from mining on a computer.

Electroneum’s mobile mining will be live in January 2018 after the success and response from its beta trial.

(Source: Electroneum)

One of the biggest trade crazes of 2017, Bitcoin and cryptoculture is a young profit-making hobby turned job for many. Now recognized as a serious business through the regulatory backing of governments and large corporations, it’s future is almost certainly one of continued proliferation, but what does its history look like? Below, Finance Monthly hears from trusted cryptocurrency expert, Fiona Cincotta, Senior Market Analyst at City Index, on the past 10 years of Bitcoin.

So far Bitcoin has only had a short life. However, the few years that it has been in existence have seen the currency go from almost unknown, to hitting the headlines on a daily basis.

Let’s take a look at a brief history of Bitcoin.

2008 – The Legend of Satoshi Nakamoto

Satoshi Nakamoto, or someone working under that alias, allegedly started the bitcoin concept, or so the legend goes. In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper, which outlines the concept of the bitcoin. Most notably this paper addresses the problem of double spending, so as to avoid the currency being copied and spent twice. This was an essential foundation brick, that allowed Bitcoin to expand where other attempts at cryptocurrencies had failed.

This same year Bitcoin.org was born. The domain was registered through a site which permits its users to buy and register domain names anonymously.

If we think back to August 2008, it was just weeks before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and at a time when banks were notorious for behaving as they pleased. Bitcoin was intended as a decentralised alternative, controlled and monitored by market forces rather than banks and governments

2009 – Bitcoin becomes public

Bitcoin software is made available to the public for the first time. The first ever block is mined – it was called Genesis. Mining is the process by which new bitcoins can be created. The transactions are recorded and verified on the blockchain. The first ever Bitcoin transaction occurred between Satoshi and Hal Finney, a developer and cryptographic supporter.

By the end of 2009, the first bitcoin exchange rate is established and published. Bitcoin receives a value like a traditional currency. At this point $1 = 1309 Bitcoin

2010 – Bitcoin’s first real world transaction

As global economies continued to recover from the financial crash, the first real world Bitcoin transaction occurred, when a Florida programmer paid 10,000 bitcoins for 2 pizzas worth around $25. Later that year bitcoin was hacked, drawing attention to its principal weaknesses; security. Bitcoin had been trading at around $1, prior to the hack, which then sent the value through the floor. Further bad press this same year, which suggested it could be used to fund terrorist groups did little to increase its popularity.

2011 – Parity with the dollar

Bitcoin reaches parity with the dollar for the first time. By June of the same year each bitcoin was worth $31 each, which meant the total market cap reached $206 million. 25% of the projected total of 21 million bitcoins have now been mined. Encrypted currencies in general were starting to catch on around now and alternatives were appearing, such as Litecoin. Each virtual currency tries to improve on the original Bitcoin. Today there are around 1000 cryptocurrencies in circulation.

2013 – Security Issues; Price Crashes

June of this year saw a major theft of bitcoin take place, from a digital wallet - once again highlighting some of the cryptocurrency’s weaknesses. In the same year, another major security breech saw the value of bitcoin tumble from $17.50 to just $0.01. 2013 also saw the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issue the first bitcoin regulation. This would be the start of an ongoing debate as to how best regulate the virtual currency. Bitcoin’s market capitalisation had reached $1 billion.

2014 – Mt.Gox disappears along with 850,000 bitcoins

This year was characterised by growing understanding and desire to regulate bitcoin. Not surprising after the world’s largest bitcoin exchange Mt.Gox suddenly went offline and 850,000 bitcoins were never seen again. Whilst there is still no answer to what happened to those Bitcoins, valued at the time at $450 million, at today’s value those coins would be worth $4.4 billion. The same year US released the Bit License – proposed rules and guidelines for regulating virtual currencies. Microsoft begun accepting payment in Bitcoins.

2016 – Bitcoin boomed

Bitcoin saw an annual gain of 54%, outperforming all fiat currencies. This was the year that the bitcoin really started to establish itself and provided holders of the currency various ways to generate a return or indeed use the currency. It was seen as a safe haven from traditional assets in a year of Brexit, Trump winning Presidency, the continued rise of ISIS and the refugee crisis in Europe.

2017 – Legitimacy and $20,000

The value of bitcoin jumped from $997 to over $19,661 and its popularity has soared exponentially. The currency went mainstream as it became listed on two futures exchanges CBOE and CME. The listing of Bitcoin Future contracts on these exchanges has boosted the legitimacy of bitcoin and made it more widely available. Despite the futures contracts providing ability to short bitcoin, the value of the cryptocurrency hits an all time high.

Finance Monthly also recently heard from Fiona Cincotta, Senior Market Analyst at City Index, on the spread of cryptoculture and the passion for conversion among entrepreneurs globally.