2017 Cryptocurrency Year In Review.

How hectic has this year been for Bitcoin, right? Why do I feel like this train is just only starting out and the steam pressure still building?

If someone had told me 11 months ago that Bitcoin would have reached a value worth over $19,000 USD at some point before the end of 2017, knowing what I know about Bitcoin as well as the blockchain and being as much of a crypto enthusiast as I am, I totally could not have imagined Bitcoin reaching the Heights it has in what can be described as nothing short of a whirlwind ride for people who have been brave enough to take the trip down crypto street.

Bitcoins dominance in 2017 as cryptocurrencies have clawed their way up to the worlds top 15 most valuable Industries out of relative obscurity over the last 8 years or so, has taken a lot of very smart people by surprise on Wall Street and across the globe but don't be fooled corporate naive protocols, many companies from New York to L.A. and abroad are adopting Blockchain and crypto technologies mobilizing with research and development, it is only a matter of time before companies who have spent time and energy to develop products with solutions for their customers who get to market first, will emerge as industry leaders over the next 10 year stretch.

For years people have been holding Bitcoin at a relatively low value in respect to the current value. Looking at the history of the charts using coinmarketcap for BTC I notice on November 30th 2013 at 01:46 UTC, the market cap for Bitcoin was just shy of 14 billion dollars, at that point Bitcoin had a price tag of $1149 USD for what felt like the blink of an eye to traders who had seen Bitcoin rise from pennies to literally becoming one of the most valuable stocks before the Mt.Gox fiasco ending that run and seemingly crippling crypto growth not to mention tarnishing the reputation of the budding crypto industry leaving a dark cloud hanging over the consciousness of traders and potential investors alike. To this day Bitcoin remains one of the most important and under valued industries in the world and it is only growing more by the second.

Sometime at the end of February mid March I saw a serious trend unfolding when pretty much every cryptocurrency I can think of and their mother took a trip to the moon with a rocket ship made out of Blockchain, by default anyone holding almost any cryptocurrency over the spring and the summer of 2017 became very, very wealthy investors. It almost seemed like the euphoria for never ending rise of the ultimate cryptocurrency pump would never come to an end, however all good things do! When markets like XRP that achieved Heights of 25000 Satoshi started to crash and giants like ETH took a serious nosedive after being worth 15% of the price of Bitcoin from my perspective it was pretty obvious that the cryptocurrency cash register had been emptied out and a run for Bitcoin was imminent. This may not have seemed the obvious to the average Donald who was buying crypto around that time but for those of us who had our eye on the BTC ball for the last 4 or 5 years I feel it was obvious that something had changed and there was big movement on the horizon that would inevitably take the World by storm.

We all know what the media has been saying about the Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, as well as Bitcoin, the headlines seem to always repeat themselves and are quit often not very kind or neutral when reporting, information about Bitcoin is usually recycled across many news outlets with stories feeling like they were copy and pasted rather then written. When it comes to Bitcoin and the blockchain the narrative established by the so called mainstream media circus we call news today, tends to be standardized, since very few people are able to grasp the potential of Bitcoin and even fewer people are able to explain what logic they use to come to the conclusion that this kind off potential is even possible. In other words there just are not enough good analogies to describe Cryptocurrency to people who actually desire to learn in a way that can help those who want to understand the philosophy as well as technical aspects driving the blockchain. The media has not exactly been a fan or a cheerleader for cryptocurrency if you know what I mean, however when the media puts on a tin foil hat to talk about how Bitcoin saved a senior citizens cat that accidentally climbed up a tree, anything is possible! When mass media wants, mass media can be a nice guy if it chooses. I have also noticed when celebrities pop out of the woodwork to talk about Cryptocurrency like John Mc Fee did with RDD and DGB entire communities of people who have never been exposed to this kind of alien technology we call blockchain get to have their minds opened up for the first time, little by little the word is getting out, the Blockchain has arrived!

I find my Outlook and viewpoints on Cryptocurrency to be very optimistic. Although I do sense turbulence ahead in the near future for Bitcoin with regards to the stability and price for cryptocurrencies in general that potentially have become inflated too fast. I am really not worried, over the long term I truly sense that cryptocurrencies are going to usher in a new era of more honest corporate and Government business practices and transparency which is good for everybody at the table. Cryptocurrency and Bitcoins have earned a very special place in my investment portfolio, I don't waste one single opportunity chatting with people who have not yet learned about Bitcoin or cryptocurrency. I look forward to being able to help people understand how the underlying value of how these technologies are not only going to change how people see the world, this tech is actually life changing, everyone will be eating their own dog food soon enough via the Blockchain and decentralized social media platforms such as STEEM.

Cryptocurrency it's still a very small community of users (believe it or not) I feel it's really important for those of us who are a part of this industry to stick together and support one another. I want to remind everybody that regardless of whatever cryptocurrency you are trading or are invested with this industry is woven together like a cloth and the fabric is the backdrop for what is going to happen in the world of tomorrow. Every single thread of this fabric counts and as the blockchain grows as well as its processing power, eventually a dominant path way will reveal itself leading to the ultimate and most secure cryptocurrency ever, in the meantime part of me feels like cryptocurrency is still in the beta version and there is a lot of growing left to happen, with love in time.

Where do you see the price of Bitcoin in 6 months time around June 1st, 2018?
How did you first learn about cryptocurrency?
What was the price of Bitcoin when you bought cryptocurrency for the first time?
I look forward to reading your comments and learning more about where you see this industry in the future. Thank you for taking a second to check out this post or leave a comment!

I want to take a moment to also wish everybody a fantastic year and all the best for 2018 looking forward. Life is too short, make sure to party hard and well when you are out there in the game and kindly drink responsibly, we have to get up in the morning and trade more crypto ;p LETS GO!

Written by STEEM user: Jazmin Million