W&F Issue 12 2018

www.wealthandfinance-news.com 26 Wealth & Finance International - Issue 12 - 2018 One of the very first (if not the very first) Bitcoin users and supporters, Hal Finney was an accomplished programmer and software developer and was also on the receiving end of the first ever Bitcoin transaction. No one knows who the real Nakamoto is, however many believe that this could’ve been the pseudonym of Finney as a budding amateur-detective found out that they hail from the same small town in California at the time of creation. The only way from here was to allow retailers and companies accept payment via Bitcoin. It was in early 2010 when Papa John’s Pizza, in the same Californian city, accepted a payment of 10,000 Bitcoins for two pizzas. In 2018, that would’ve been worth just under $32.5 million. When the summer of 2010 arrived, so did the first Bitcoin attack. A serial hacker ended up forging a transaction and managed to make out with 184 billion Bitcoins. However, this was far from the end of security threats for the founding cryptocurrency. One major issue pointed out with Bitcoin back in 2011 was the lack of traceability. And when different corners of the “Dark Web” began allowing Bitcoin payments, such as Silk Road, the lack of traceability became a huge issue. This is when new cryptocoins entered the market, such as Namecoin and Swiftcoin, with the promise of more secure transactions and total traceability. Despite this, Bitcoin’s market worth continued to skyrocket well into 2012. It was in 2012 when Bitcoin entered the mainstream and became a popular talking point, with emerging articles in main stream publications and even an episode of The Good Wife focused around the cryptocurrency. By the end of 2012, Bitcoin was the talking point of most office discussions and became a traders’ dream. In October 2013, popularity and use increased so much that we saw the implementation of the first ever Bitcoin ATM in a small internet café in Vancouver, Canada. Shortly after, during the winter of 2013, what started as a joke became one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies on the planet. The Dogecoin, created out of the global love for the Shiba Inu, emerged after meme culture took over the world. A budding programmer named Billy Markus wanted to create a cryptocurrency that could reach a broader demographic than its predecessor, Bitcoin. He also wanted to distance Dogecoin from the controversial history of other cryptocurrencies and allow for a light-hearted yet profitable offering. By the start of this year, Dogecoin hit a market cap of two billion US dollars and is now one of the most consistent and lucrative cryptocurrencies on the market. This wasn’t the end of parody cryptocurrencies. In 2014, shortly after getting destroyed by his legal team, Kayne-inspired cryptocoins entered the market. “Coinye” was scheduled to release on the 11th of January; however, Kanye’s legal team filed a cease and desist order after trademark infringement on the 6th of January. By the 10th of January, one day before scheduled release, Coinye was no more. The website was taken down and the developers left it in the dust. The Coinye website was replaced with static text stating, “Coinye is dead. You win, Kayne.” It was in 2015 when big names like Microsoft and Virgin Galactic started accepting bitcoin payments, perhaps for marketing purposes, but it showed the true potential and global relevance of cryptocurrencies, with the Swiss National Railway and Argentinian Uber Taxis joining the movement and allowing cryptocoin transactions just a year later. To supply the growth in popularity during 2016, the total number of cryptocoin ATMs reached 900 at the end of the year after breaking the 500 mark as the year started. One of the biggest Bitcoin milestones was reached in March 2017, when one Bitcoin became more valuable than one ounce of gold. Less than five months after, Bitcoin continued to skyrocket and was worth nearly three times the worth of gold. It was in 2017 when cryptocurrencies hit their peak, with over 1,000 different coin types officially listed More than a decade ago, an illusive programmer who went under the alias “Satoshi Nakamoto” released a whitepaper containing the development and creation of Bitcoin in August 2008. Shortly after the domain name “Bitcoin.org” was officially registered, Satoshi’s paper, labelled “Bitcoin: A Peer to Peer Electronic Cash System”, was presented to the public and kick-started the cryptocoin revolution. The Cryptocurrency Timeline on Coin Market Cap and the total cryptocurrency market worth passing $100 billion mid-year. It improved once again later in the year, with the total market worth hitting a whopping $250 billion by the end of November and then surpassed the $500 billion mark by the end of the year, increasing by 500% in just six months. But it didn’t end there, by the end of January 2018, the total crypto market worth hit an eye-watering $824 billion. However, this success was short-lived, just 3 months after this at the start of April, the crypto market fell to a total worth of just $248 billion – the lowest level seen all year. Even though the crypto market crashed earlier this year, the biggest names in technology are still investing in cryptocurrencies. Samsung begun creating chips to mine cryptocoins, Ripple and Santander formed a partnership to help with international money transfers through the blockchain, and various EU governments joined forces to tackle and reinforce cryptocurrency regulations. However, the cryptocurrency industry hit rock-bottom halfway through this year, with the collective cryptocurrency market worth hit a new low of $186 billion in September, its lowest level of the year and the lowest it’s been since 2017. It may have been a bad end to the year for the world of cryptocoins; however, the cryptocurrency market is very much like the financial industry in terms of cycles and fluctuation in worth. There will be no stopping the blockchain and how it effects the financial world; research shows that over 70% of financial experts strongly believe cryptocurrencies are here to stay. Some research also suggests that cryptocurrencies will replace 25% of national currencies due to their efficiency and world-wide application. Once better regulations and protocols are put in place, we will start to see the true development of cryptocurrencies, as well as huge steps into international and universal applications. Created by Ben Jones at ICS-digital www.ics-digital.com