2018 In Review: The year’s most important crypto stories
After starting the year at all-time-highs, crypto in 2018 turned out to be an expensive reality check for many. As the wild ride winds down, a review of some of the year's most important stories may help put some perspective around the events of the 2018 — and prepare readers for a 2019 that promises to be just as eventful.
March – ICOs are so hot right now
Despite advertisements being banned on the most popular media platforms, regulatory scrutiny and a lot of bad press besides, money has been pouring into the ICO market since the start of the year.
May – Fed report says launch of futures crashed bitcoin price
The Federal Reserve of San Francisco in its report published on Tuesday argues bitcoin’s price peak and crash coinciding with the introduction of bitcoin futures is no coincidence, and parallels it with the rise and collapse of the home financing market in the 2000s.
May – The 10 largest ICO fund raises: successes, controversies and lessons learned
From an oil backed coin designed to circumvent global economic sanctions, to another that is bankrolling a Macau casino, to one that forced Ethereum to hardfork, the top 10 biggest ICOs to date are nothing if not controversial.
June – EOS: The bad and the ugly of a mainet launch
EOS, founded by Block.one in 2017, is the 5th biggest cryptographic asset in the world by market cap and has been vaunted as a fully scalable blockchain platform for Dapp hosting. In the past year it has faced criticism for several reasons and in general, perceptions of the project are mixed. However, its ongoing mainet launch can surely be described as a major botch.
June – Ethereum not a security
On the heels of a 25% rout the previous week, the U.S. government finally provided comments regarding regulatory clarity for Ethereum (ETH). The comments were interpreted immediately by the market as bullish. The market cap now stands at US$49.12 billion, with exchange-traded volume of US$1.25 billion in the past 24 hours.
August – Bitcoin and the NYSE: Unpacking Bakkt’s BIG plans
By creating a federally-regulated crypto ecosystem, industry giants aim to make bitcoin a trusted global currency.
August – Getting real: Why SEC approval of a Bitcoin ETF remains a huge hurdle
Another refusal by the SEC for the ProShares ETF reveals that ‘getting to yes’ will be much harder than most people realize — and that the potential for market manipulation continues to be the major stumbling block for a Bitcoin ETF approval.
August – Mt.Gox receivers begin the beginning of the end
Although a final payout for creditors isn’t coming any time soon, progress is being made on the Mt Gox receivership.
September – Penn Law: Biggest ICOs not reflecting white paper promises in smart contracts
Academic study shows around 80 percent of 2017’s top 50 ICOs have not fully reflected whitepaper promises in the code of their smart contracts.
October – 3 Reasons why Coinbase is pulling the plug on its index fund
After only four months of operation, crypto colossus Coinbase is reported to be closing its index fund product – here’s why.
November – Securities, Ripple, ICOs, ETFs and enforcement: SEC chairman lays it out at Consensus
At the hot-ticket event of the ongoing Consensus:Invest conference, SEC chairman Jay Clayton has laid out the regulator’s position across a broad range of critical crypto issues
December – Fallout: Everyone’s a loser after Bitcoin Cash split
The Bitcoin Cash hardfork has left both new chains enduring huge and ongoing mining losses, contributed to a major plunge in both the price of Bitcoin and the entire crypto market cap – and dropped the value of BCH investor holdings by around 50 percent. Was this really ‘Satoshi’s Vision’?
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