2018 was an eventful year in general when it comes to blockchains and cryptocurrencies. Digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum suffered huge trading losses last year with the former nearing towards the $3,000 mark by the end of the year. Another notable trend from last year is the rise of blockchain and cryptocurrency related lawsuits, triggering SEC chairman Jay Clayton to announce a crackdown on the industry. This is why different industries have called 2019 the make or break year for these technologies. Now what is in.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a type of electronic cash that was formed in 2008. In 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto wrote a paper title Bitcoin: A peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. In 2009, Nakamoto mined the first Bitcoin blockchain, the genesis block. Thus, started the wild ride that is Bitcoin. The volatility of Bitcoin is well-known to investors. Despite its volatility, more and more people have been using and investing in Bitcoin. And a few opportunistic scammers have taken advantage of this. Scammers love Bitcoin because it is largely unregulated. Not.
In the financial space, anything unregulated and unregistered would cause doubts and uneasiness. In the case of cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, financial regulators all over the world have started to find ways to oversee the blockchain, or the record of all cryptocurrency transactions, as well as to address the irregularities presented by these virtual currencies that mostly bypass financial firms, exchanges, and regulated banks. The most popular of all cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, chiefly operates outside of the conventions of a financial system; and this worries regulators as it has.