Bitcoin enters 2019 with millions of new users and with an interesting trading volume. To see Bitcoin expansion in different terms, data provided by Blockchain.com shows that during 2018 the number of blockchain wallet users increased by 47%.
New Year Comes With New Bitcoin Expansion
In 2018, Bitcoin expansion was noticeable. Although it did not experience a price increase, its fundamentals behind were substantially improved. The Lightning Network (LN), Segregated Witness (SegWit) and millions of new users are just some of the most important things about Bitcoin.
Although Bitcoin remains bullish for the long term, 2018 was one of the most negative years for Bitcoin’s price. According to Jameson Lopp, CTO at CasaHODL, Bitcoin’s average daily value change in 2018 was -0.33%. This is the worst year ever registered since Bitcoin was created. This surpasses 2014, that registered an average daily value change (ADVC) of -0.25%.
The best years for Bitcoin were in 2013 with an ADVC of 1.11%, followed by 2010 with 0.82% and 2017 with 0.78%.
Bitcoin average DAILY value change during:
2010: +0.82%
2011: +0.76%
2012: +0.26%
2013: +1.11%
2014: -0.25%
2015: +0.09%
2016: +0.22%
2017: +0.78%
2018: -0.33%— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) December 30, 2018
At the same time, Bitcoin entered the new year with a small drop in its price. The most popular virtual currency is currently falling 1.53% in the last 24 hours, according to data provided by CoinMarketCap.
On December 31st, Bitcoin was traded close to $3,835 and it dropped down to $3,726 during the first hours of January 1st. This represents a drop of 2.8% in just a few hours. However, Bitcoin remains bullish for the future. There are several experts that believe that there are some things to take into account this year.
Bitcoin is going to experience a new halving in 2020. That means that Bitcoin rewards for miners will be reduced from 12.5 BTC down to 6.25 BTC. In general, a year before the halving, individuals in the market start to price this slower BTC creation.
Furthermore, Bitcoin could have its first ETF approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as soon as February 27, this year. Additionally, the Intercontinental Exchange is also going to release Bitcoin futures contracts through an institutional platform called Bakkt.
At the time of writing this article, Bitcoin is being traded around $3,766 and it has a market capitalization of$65.74 billion.
