As bitcoin approaches $ 20,000, continuing to create new millionaires along the way, it's easy to deceive ourselves and think that we can all see this coming. It's hard to remember now, but the mood entering 2017 was a bit cry from the optimism that we see in the bitcoin community after something like a 20x price rise.

SegWit had not yet activated. The New York Agreement, UASF, bitcoin cash, let alone bitcoin gold, were not in existence. The community was very much struggling to figure out a way forward on its technical roadmap and many people were arguing about what to do and complaining about the toxic atmosphere. OK, maybe some things have not changed, but still, the community at the beginning of the year was very different from where we are now.

In this review of 2017, I'll be focusing on what we learn about bitcoin, how we got to the euphoria that we have now and what this means going forward.The year begins with a lot of uncertainty. Only about 30 percent of miners are signaling for SegWit, while Bitcoin Unlimited, a rival software program attracted 35 percent support. Nothing looked imminent regarding scaling. Many developers, users and businesses are getting frustrated at the lack of progress, Bitcoin Unlimited would completely ruin bitcoin.Yet despite all that, bitcoin entered the year on an upswing. Bitcoin passed $ 1,000 for the first time since 2013, and there was a real sense that the bear market had turned the corner.This would not be the first time that uncertainty and price rises would coincide in 2017, and indeed the two being correlated is a major learning for the community this year. Nice @cryptogee