Understanding Bitcoin from a different perspective #4
On November 19th, Finney praises Satoshi for some revisions and inquires about the Bitcoin network's aspired size, which would effect scalability and performance. 'How big do you think it will get? Hundreds of nodes? Thousands? Millions?’ This foreshadowed the scaling discussion, which eventually resulted in the emergence of splinter cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin cash and so-called layer 2 solutions like sidechains and the Lightning Network.
In an unusual step, the Bitcoin Community issues a quarterly report, and values remain remarkably stable for such a typically volatile currency. For the quarter, the website received over 7 million page views, three new wallets were introduced to the page for users to choose from, over 114 new pages of developer documentation were provided, and translations for 26 languages were uploaded.
In March, the Bitcoin Foundation welcomes a new member, and it appears that Olivier Janssens' first order of business is to reveal a slew of Bitcoin secrets in a Reddit post, claiming that the Foundation is "effectively bankrupt" due to "two years of ridiculous spending and poorly thought out decisions." According to his exposé, the Bitcoin Foundation had almost no money left, had fired 90% of its employees.
Prices had been hovering between $220 and $240 for the past few months, but on June 16, Bitcoin peaks at $252.05. The price increase was attributed to the situation of the Greek economy, according to some. At first glance, it may appear to be an insane correlation, but the Greek economy was in bad shape. Bank accounts may even be frozen if the country defaults on its credit obligations. In that event, digital currency may be the primary means in and out of the country. This was the first case where we see bitcoin being considered as a viable solution to traditional finances limitations by a sovereign country.
Bitcoin Core developers Mike Hearn and Gavin Andresen have released Bitcoin XT, a new, slightly modified version of the software. Fears of a split drive price volatility . The issue boils down to a disagreement over the size of the chain's blocks. Andresen, Hearn, and their followers claimed that as the currency grew in popularity, the blocks should be increased in size. They cautioned that if this did not happen, Bitcoin would fall down a "capacity cliff," where all of its blocks would become full, causing a backlog of transactions . This would flood the network with data, causing long delays and potentially raising rates. Bitcoin XT proposed increasing the block size from 1MB to 8MB as a solution.
However, the publication of the new software alarmed many individuals since it presented the chance that the Bitcoin community might be unable to agree on a size. Consensus is crucial in a decentralized group, and a lasting dispute could lead to a permanent split. This time, though, it didn't go as planned: few miners chose Bitcoin XT, and the alternative software eventually died out around mid-2016. However, the prospect of a hard fork continued to worry the market, and the price fell from $261.46 on August 15 to $209.72 on August 24.
The EU has declared no VAT on Bitcoin exchanges and declared it a legitimate currency, which is a huge gain for crypto. By contrast, the US government classed Bitcoin as a commodity in September. The European ruling was as well-received, and Bitcoin's new tax-free status drew traders and drove the price back up to $300.
"Bitcoin has failed," declares Mike Hearn, a Bitcoin Core engineer who had previously built the alternative Bitcoin XT software. He's also the person to whom Satoshi Nakamoto allegedly wrote his "resignation" email in October of 2013. "The fundamentals are broken," Hearn wrote on Medium, and "whatever happens to the price in the short term, the long term trend should definitely be lower." He claimed to have sold all of his coins and warned that "the network is on the verge of technical failure."Bitcoin, of course, is still in use after all these years.
The first successful Zero-Knowledge Contingent Payment (ZKCP) on the Bitcoin network has been announced. Prices have risen by 2%. Zero-Knowledge Contingent Payment is a transaction protocol that allows a buyer to buy information from a seller anonymously and securely using Bitcoin; simply, you don't have to trust anyone because no information is transferred unless the payment is made.
The Japanese government has approved a bill that recognizes virtual currencies as being equivalent to real money, with the ability to make payments and the ability to be moved digitally. This is a significant step forward, as many other countries are still struggling with the role that cryptocurrencies may or should play. The Payment Services Act Amendment Bill was aimed to put the industry under the oversight of Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) and introduce new registration requirements for virtual currency exchanges, as well as overseas exchanges that provide services to Japanese users. It also imposed a slew of additional regulations on cryptocurrency exchanges, such as recordkeeping, annual reporting, and anti-money laundering compliance.
After a few weeks of reasonably stable overall price performance, despite volatility in daytime trading, Bitcoin hits a closing price of $467.42, its highest since September 2014. Increased usage of cryptocurrency technology in general is thought to be the reason for the surge. Intel (INTC) announced plans to employ blockchain technology, Storj, a new blockchain technology developer, joined the Microsoft (MSFT) Azure blockchain, and the UK announced plans to use blockchain to track taxpayer money on April 26.
The second halving is approaching. People are ecstatic, and Bitcoin is benefiting. It's shaping up to be one for the books, with a 10% price increase for May . There were a few theories as to what caused the May surge, but it was most likely a mix of factors. Ethereum, a rival currency, had entered the market a few months prior, attracting more attention to the digital currency ecosystem globally and finally giving Bitcoin some meaningful competition. The prospect of a halving was also generating enthusiasm in the UK market.Having started the month at $448.43, May closed at $531.84, and June only got better.
Written by neotrader.
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