YEAR OF BITCOIN IN NUMBERS AND EVENTS
After taking off in 2017, bitcoin spent a year disappointing crypto investors: from a record $20,000, the cryptocurrency fell below $4,000. Let’s see what happened with bitcoin from January 1 to the end of December.
January
January 1: For the first time since 2015, bitcoin began the year with a fall: in January, the value of the cryptocurrency fell by more than 4%.
January 11: Media around the world began to massively report that the Ministry of Justice of South Korea is preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading on virtual exchanges. In the news, the exchange rate of bitcoin fell in 10%, having dragged behind itself the whole stock market. At the same time, an Interdepartmental group established under the Chinese government issued an order to gradually curtail the work of miners in the country.
January 15: It became known that the Chinese authorities will block the platform for trading cryptocurrency.
January 30: Finam Brokerage company in partnership with the CBOE exchange opened access to trading futures contracts for bitcoin for qualified investors. On the same day, bitcoin fell by more than 5%, since South Korea has banned anonymous cryptocurrency trading.
February
February 1: The Square Payment app gave bitcoin trading access to most users in the US.
February 2: Bitcoin Exchange rate fell below $9000 for the first time since November. The reason was the news that India will tighten control over cryptocurrencies.
February 5: Bitcoin collapsed below $8000-the rate was affected by news from India, Facebook’s ban on cryptocurrency, ICO and binary options advertising, Bitfinex and Tether issues and major crypto-exchange hacks.
February28: Hardwork Private Bitcoin (BTCP) took place in the bitcoin network. It supports the new ZK-SNARK anonymity Protocol based on zero-knowledge proof. Bitcoin Private became the first fork based on two blockchains.
March
March 2: The German Ministry of Finance signed a decree according to which bitcoin is recognized as a means of payment.
March 9: The Price of bitcoin fell to around $8500. Experts have linked the fall of the crypto market with news about the alleged hacking of Binance.
March 17: The Rate of the first cryptocurrency fell below $8000. Bitcoin began to fall in price on the background of news from the IMF and Google. The head of the International monetary Fund Christine Lagarde called for more stringent regulation of the cryptocurrency industry with the help of blockchain. In addition, Google said that since June, will prohibit the advertisement of “cryptocurrency and associated content, including ICO, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets and shopping recommendations.”
March 21: Edward Snowden said that the NSA is engaged in surveillance of bitcoin users since 2013 in the framework of the program codenamed OAKSTAR.
March 29: Bitcoin’s dominance index peaked since the beginning of the year, exceeding 45%.
April
April 2: In the first quarter of 2018, the capitalization of the cryptocurrency market fell by 59% — from 613 to 252 billion dollars.
April 13: Bitcoin climbed above $8000 for the first time since March 28.
April 16: CME Group submitted CFTC’s first report on bitcoin futures.
April 22: Bitcoin for the first time in a year showed growth for two weeks in a row. From 16 to 22 April, it rose by 10%, and from 9 to 15 — by 20%.
April 26: 17 million bitcoins were mined – the total number of bitcoins is limited to 21 million.
May
May 8: The US Federal reserve accused the launch of bitcoin futures in the subsequent collapse of prices.
May 14: Bitbond Online Bank made the first international money transfer in bitcoins, bypassing the SWIFT system.
May 23: The Massachusetts Institute of technology (MIT) conducted a series of experiments with the bitcoin Lightning Network (LN). Scientists have concluded that the network can significantly improve cryptocurrency transactions.
May 24: Bitcoin fell below $7400.
May 28: China’s oldest bitcoin exchange BTCC announced the launch of a new trading platform.
June
June 6: VanEck and SolidX joined forces and applied to launch bitcoin ETF.
June 11: Bitcoin fell below $7000 again.
June 23: Bitcoin price fell below $ 6000.
July
July 4: Iranian Authorities restricted access to bitcoin exchanges.
July 9: Chicago Board options exchange CBOE requested permission to open an over-the-counter bitcoin investment Fund.
July 12: The exchange rate of bitcoin jumped to $9000 on the exchange WEX.
July 18: The Price of bitcoin exceeded $7000. The jump coincided with the liquidation of a large number of short positions on the BitMEX exchange.
July 25: The exchange rate of bitcoin approached $10 000 on the exchange WEX.
July 27: Bitcoin price fell below $8000 after the SEC refused to launch the Winklevoss brothers ‘ bitcoin ETF.
August
August 5: The exchange Rate of bitcoin fell below $7000.
August 17: US Investors got access to the ETN for bitcoin.
August 23: The cryptocurrency market collapsed amid news that the SEC rejected nine applications to open bitcoin ETF.
August 28: Bitcoin broke the $7000 mark.
September
September 6: Bitcoin has risen to $24 000 on the Iranian stock exchange.
September 10: The SEC suspended trading of bitcoin and ether ETN.
September 11: Canada launched a bitcoin Fund for collective investment.
September 21: The SEC postponed a decision on bitcoin ETF from VanEck and SolidX.
October
October 11: Scientists of Princeton and Florida international universities, said that the authorities have enough tools to destroy bitcoin.
October 15: Bitcoin exchange rate exceeded $7200 on Bitfinex.
October 24: VanEck presented evidence that the market is ready for bitcoin-ETF.
November
November 14: The exchange rate of bitcoin fell to a one-year low, breaking the mark of $6000.
November 19: Bitcoin price crashed below $5000.
November 21: Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) postponed the launch of Bakkt crypto platform to January.
November 25: The exchange rate of bitcoin fell below $4000.
December
December 7: The exchange rate of bitcoin approached $3400.
December 13: The Swiss analogue of bitcoin-ETF showed record trading volumes.
December 14: Bitcoin fell below $3300.
December 24: The JPY has become a leader in the volume of trading with bitcoin.
December 25: The bitcoin exchange rate was fixed near the $3800 mark.
