Wishesh magazine january 2018 Wishesh magazine january 2018 | Page 44

COVER STORY
44
Network looks back to the
year’s biggest trends as it
relates to the cryptocurrency
mammoth.
At the end of 2016–on
December 31–the digital
currency mammoth closed
the year at $968.23 per
token and, since then, has
continuously broke new
records throughout the year.
Of course, one of the biggest
bitcoin trends of 2017–if not
the biggest–is attributed to the
fact that it continually broke
record prices and crossed
thresholds that almost no one
believed possible this year.
The digital currency entered
2017 at less than $1,000
a token, although it had
climbed above that landmark
in the past. To provide a little
WWW.WISHESH.COM | JANUARY 2018
bit of perspective, bitcoin
first reached over $1,000
in late 2013 and stabilizing
somewhere between $450-
$750 throughout 2016.
This year, however, has
been a completely different
story. While it dipped under
$1,000 in early January,
bitcoin has otherwise been
on a rampage this year and
slamming industry analyst
and expert predictions. Case
in point, the digital currency
reached $10,000 for the first
time in late November and–if
that wasn’t enough–soared
even higher just a few short
weeks later to $17,379.94 on
December 12.
With bitcoin’s rising price also
comes its increasing market
cap: at the start of 2017,
bitcoin’s market cap totaled
$16.5 billion. As of December
12 it is approaching the $300
billion mar at $293 billion
Bitcoin trends
2017: regulations
on the forefront
While bitcoin’s booming price
certainly dominated headlines
this year, there are–of course–
other contributing factors to
its rising popularity.
Kelly said the biggest thing
that stood out to him in
2017 was the amount of
institutional interest in the
space.
2017 was the year that
institutions really