You would agree with me that this article was long overdue. Weeks ago, we were all rejoicing over the start of a new year; 2021. Many of us started the year with parties, celebrations and of course, the old-time tradition of new year resolutions (you know yourselves). The important part is to grow and be better, right?
Speaking of growing and being better, Bitcoin seems to be the doing the most. The cryptocurrency recently reached another all-time high nearing $50,000. As at the time of writing this article, 1 Bitcoin is worth about $47,000. Amazing.
This takes us down memory lane of the magnificent surge of Bitcoin price in the previous year. Interestingly, there is more to this cryptocurrency that meets the eye. Check out the times Bitcoin has given us unforgettable moments in the previous year.
1. The Price of Bitcoin
The price of Bitcoin smashed through many all-time highs in the previous year. From $20,000 to $30,000 in December. HODL Investors that had their money in Bitcoin this time last year profited a whole lot by the time 2020 came to an end. This is because Bitcoin rose by over 200% last year. The last time Bitcoin reached an all time high like that was in 2017.
Why was the price rise in 2017 not scalable you ask?
If you check our post here, you would see that the price rise in 2017, and 2020 were due to entirely different reasons.
2. The pandemic shift
The coronavirus pandemic hit every country in the world almost suddenly. While a number of events occurred and state of things especially the economies of several countries went south, the pandemic seemed to have a direct opposite effect on Bitcoin.
Shift to Cashless transactions.
We can see that clearly from the way the prices went up, and more people yielded greatly to cashless transactions during the lockdown. What’s more, the decentralized feature of Bitcoin on the blockchain network made it easy for people to perform such transactions without middlemen like banks that were physically unavailable. More so, Bitcoin transactions cuts across every globe hence cross-border transaction was relatively easy.
3. Bitcoin third’s halving
To control the rate of inflation, the creator of Bitcoin included in its design, a code that will automatically cut the reward Bitcoin miners receive while processing Bitcoins, into half every four years. This process is referred to as Bitcoin halving, and it happens every four years. During the first halving, the miner’s reward was cut from 50 BTC to 25 BTC. In the second halving, the rewards were cut down to 12.5 BTC from 25BTC. On May 11, 2020, Bitcoin’s third and most recent halving occurred and it cut the rewards further down from 12.5BTC to 6.25 BTC.
What does this mean for the Bitcoin economy?
If previous events are taken into account, the Bitcoin halving usually results in a significant bull run. The first and second Bitcoin halving which occurred in the year 2012 and 2016 respectively indicates an upward trend in the crypto market right before and after the halving took place. Thus, the Bitcoin halving is usually a time for Bitcoin users to celebrate.
4. Improving privacy in Blockchain technology
If you remember the viral twitter hack that occurred in July, then discussion around improving privacy in the blockchain technology would only make sense. In case you don’t remember this particular viral twitter hack. It so happens that a “renowned” hacker was able to seize control and gain access to twitter accounts of prominent persons like Jeff Bezos, Joe Biden and Barrack Obama.
Bersek!
The hacker went ahead to ask people to send 1,000 USD worth of BTC to a pasted wallet address, promising that they would get 2,000 USD worth of BTC in return. It so happens that due to the pseudo-anonymity of Bitcoin, the exact identity behind the wallet address could not be traced. This sprouted conversations amongst blockchain experts on how the technology can be improved.
5. Wider acceptance of the cryptocurrency
Surely you must have heard about how Paypal, one of the world’s largest (if not the world’s largest) online commercial platform, announced in 2020, the incorporation of Bitcoin on their platform. Paypal was not the only big industry that made a move towards accepting the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. Other Industries and investment platforms also came out to express acceptance and say commendable things about Bitcoin. Read more about it here.
You would agree that 2020 was an eventful year for Bitcoin, wouldn’t you? It is the second month of the new year already (January seemed to have flown past fast). It is never too late to chip in financial stability with Bitcoin as part of the resolutions for the new year (At what point does the new year become an old one? LOL).
If Bitcoin is one of your most valued cryptocurrency, then get familiar with the five times Bitcoin has given us unforgettable moments in the past year.
