I'd Just like to start today's blog by saying thank you to everyone that has encouraged me to keep going over the past few months. There are too many steemians to name names, but they know who they are, and I'm forever grateful.

There are so many days when I feel like quitting this bitcoin blog, simply due to the amount of time it takes to put together; in a month I would guess somewhere between 50-150 hours, if I'm being honest. I don't have a bot or scripts gathering data and automatically creating this blog, although I really should lol (there are a good handful of those kind of posts on Steemit FYI).

My original goal for this blog was to have a continuous record for myself and others to look back on, as a history of Bitcoin when it finally matures and goes into it's (for lack of a better term) Final Transformation. Bitcoin has spent years being kicked around like a hacky sack - with idiotic narcissists (to put it nicely) like Roger Ver continually opposing and creating opposition to the things that need to be done to bring decentralization into the mainstream. But we are on the cusp of blockchain technology reaching critical mass, and if I have any sense in me, I want to witness this crazy transformative era front row - for better or for worse.

So again, thank you to everyone that has kept encouraging me to keep writing this blog every day, regardless if it was just for upvotes when I was addicted to the delegated Steem Power Bandwagon (thank you @blocktrades for that, ya jackass :D). Doing this feels like a chore some days, and other days I'm excited to see what has transpired in the world of crypto, but at the end of the day I'm happy I still keep at this, rain or shine. To those who encouraged me but have now abandoned their Steem accounts... I get it, but you will regret it later in life. For those still here - just plug through it all and keep at it. If you look back in two years when Steem is worth 100's of dollars each, will you be glad you stayed, or be depressed that you quit during this harvest time?

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Bitcoin has reached $11K and appears to be consolidating in this range now.

Bitcoin is also gaining back some market dominance.

Just like in the latter half of January 2018, Bitcoin could see a lot of struggle at this support level. Whether it's uncertain investors trying to cut their losses, or market manipulators just doing their thing, the word for 2018 thus far is (and continues to be) HODL.

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Today's charts and numbers at a glance

(shift+click or middle-mouse-button any image to enlarge in a new window)

Today's Crypto Marketshare: 78.39% - Top Ten 41.46% - Top Ten (w/o Bitcoin) 36.93% - Bitcoin 21.61% - Other 0.238% - Steem	The total Cryptocurrency market cap today was $488,040,000,000. Steem Market cap was $1,163,140,000, or 0.238% of total.
Bitcoin's Price hit a high of $11,350, a low of $10,326 and an average of $10,838 before closing.	Bitcoin's Market Cap was $187,663,000,000 US Dollars.
Bitcoin exchange trading totaled a volume of $8,744,010,000 US Dollars.	The average Bitcoin transaction fee was $3.01 USD.
There were 154,855 new Bitcoin transactions added to the mempool today, or 1.792 average transactions per second.	The percentage of Bitcoin transactions using Segwit addresses peaked at 13.05% today.
The average block contained 0.98 Megabytes of transaction data today.	Today there were 3,756 new transactions left unconfirmed by end of day. There were virtually no stale transactions stuck in the mempool.

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Article Spotlight:

Visa says Coinbase is not at fault for overcharging cryptocurrency holders

Surprise, surprise. A too-big-to-fail government sponsored corporation is messing with the Bitcoin ecosystem, and retroactively charging customers because they can. In any other business, people would be losing their jobs and possibly going to jail.

For VISA, this is just business as usual.

While I would never buy crypto with a credit card, and I frown at anyone that would think of doing so, this behavior from VISA sets a very grim legal precedent. What happens when a US Citizen buys something made in China with their VISA, and 6 months later they get nailed with a fine because the US Government decided to retroactively enforce new tax laws?

I don't think I need to say it, but if you are currently in credit card debt, do everything you possibly can to pay that debt off in 2018. Same goes with unsecured lines of credit, get those paid off. You will thank me later if you do. Credit companies and banks are not here to help you; they are here to shear you like a sheep for profit, and even slaughter you when times are tough and food is scarce. Be smart, especially if you have other people depending on you financially. People that put their dependents at financial risk for selfish endeavors are a pet peeve of mine.

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Video Spotlights

Coin Mastery - (hangover edition) Here's When Crypto Goes Bullish

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Alessio Rastani - Key To Trading Success

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Decentralized TV - What is BTrash? - No. NOT BCASH

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if you want to be more proactive in this community, try using steemfollower (sign in is done through steemconnect using your steemit name and your private posting key - found in your wallet under permissions). This Video will explain how the program works. It is a great way to motivate you to produce great content, and to reward others for producing great content.

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Tip Jars:

Dogecoin DDizpbLrYzFNEZtEVvUXo8kKBKu3K7yLry
Bitcoin 32p67yperYxM8dEFXESL3oeBcEn4qP32cQ
Ethereum 0x54c0387Fd48Dc8D48D30069be2e18756b8d203A5
ETC 0x067511c327Bc68b73726F4410fEAdb47ed396425
Ubiq 0x3EDb86c57f7f495aE0963855Cc37BA64B40C7685

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(this chart is subject to change over time and only reflects the latest upvote values that I have received. As I test more upvote bots the chart will grow. It is not an endorsement for any bot, nor is this an attempt to slander the reputation of any upvote bot. I only wish to highlight to others the range of value they should expect if they choose to use upvote bot services. Most bots will give an upvote somewhere in between this range, and its going to depend on different variables.)

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As always; good luck, good wealth and good health to everyone on Steemit. Stay positive towards others and help the community grow. Thank you for reading and sharing. Comments are always welcome.