This year continues to look like it will be one to remember for crypto traders. The industry has matured to the point that there are crypto projects in nearly every sector of the economy. When you couple these integrations with the introduction of faster and more energy-efficient blockchains, it’s easy to see why the technology has become so popular.
Bitcoin Pizza Day
One of the first breakthroughs for cryptocurrencies occurred only a few months after Bitcoin’s launch. The incident which is now famously referred to as Bitcoin Pizza Day occurred when an early crypto adopter by the name of Laszlo Hanyecz made the first Bitcoin purchase.
The purchase was two large Papa John’s pizzas for which he paid 10,000 BTC. While this mega fortune might sound ridiculous nowadays, it’s vital to remember that this was only around $30 back then. Notably, it was the early days of Bitcoin which meant that only a few people had any idea of its massive potential.
Today the event is called Bitcoin Pizza Day by the community as it represents the first time Bitcoin was used to purchase goods in the real world. On this day its custom for people to send some sats to Hanyecz as a thank you for putting up the first coins that led to an entire industry forming.
Mt.Gox
Mt.Gox was the first and largest Bitcoin exchange when it entered service. The introduction of an exchange was a major plus for the market as it provided a way for people to get their hands on Bitcoin without operating a mining rig.
The concept of CEXs has since blossomed into a core feature of the market. Today, CEXS are larger and far more advanced than Mt.Gox but all owe their inspiration and history to this mammoth exchange. At the time of its peak, Mt.Gox accounted for +90% of all Bitcoin transactions.
When Mt.Gox failed it sent shockwaves throughout the entire crypto market. The results were massive losses in value for Bitcoin that would last for years before recovering. Today, the Mt.Gox fiasco is still a pain point for users that never received their lost Bitcoin which would now be worth a hefty sum.
Ethereum
No platform has been more influential in reshaping the market than Ethereum. Ethereum was inspired by Bitcoin and other decentralized networks. However, unlike BTC, Ethereum was a decentralized operating system that enabled users to build Dapps on the network.
When Ethereum entered service it was the first network to introduce smart contract programmability. Smart contracts are special protocols that operate on decentralized networks. They are the backbone of the current blockchain market and most new networks include support for these protocols.
Smart contracts enable the creation of Dapps. Dapps serve a vital role in adoption as they are how the average person interacts with blockchain networks. Ethereum is by far the largest and most active Dapp community in the world. Notably, Ethereum remains a pioneering force in the market today.
Altcoin Season
Following the entrance of Ethereum began a slew of new platforms. For the first time, the market had started to see a flood of new networks and strategies. Long gone were the days of simple crypto operating as currency. These new networks were often specialized and purpose-built.
These tokens fell into the altcoin category which means any other token besides Bitcoin. Altcoins began as hard forks of Ethereum and Bitcoin but soon blossomed into unique ecosystems complete with native features and services. AS such, altcoins cover a massive scope of functionality.
Today’s altcoins are extremely diverse. There are tokens meant to service exact industries such as logistics of cloud computing. Some altcoins serve the banking community or operate as utility tokens for games or other services.
The third quarter of 2017 marked the peak of the altcoin season. It was at this time that nearly every new project was seeing massive value gains. These gains were driven by a combination of speculation and new users joining the market. As you could expect, altcoin season couldn’t last forever and the following year a crypto winter began to eliminate the gains made by projects during the bull run.
ERC-20 Token Standard
At the same time, Ethereum developers made a crucial decision that altered the course of the market forever. They decided to take their in-house ERC-20 tokens standard, which was created to streamline making digital assets and networks, and make it public.
The introduction of a reliable and easy-to-use token standard caused the market to balloon quickly. The Ethereum blockchain became home to hundreds of thousands of tokens and the ERC-20 token standard helped to drive adoption.
Standards make it easier for developers to innovate as they are assured of interoperability in the future. The ERC-20 token standard, in particular, is a popular option because Ethereum has the largest DeFi and Dapp community in the world. As such, creating ERC-20 tokens means that users have access to a massive selection of wallets and other features.
CEXs Rise
The same time saw platforms like Coinbase and Binance rise to power. These centralized exchanges were able to become crucial parts of the community because they were one of the only ways for new users to
convert fiat currency into cryptocurrencies. CEXs remain a major choke point and onboarding space for users.
Today’s CEXs are massive platforms that handle billions in transactions yearly. Many of these exchanges have gone on to get official licensing from their regulators making them ideal for large traditional trading firms to leverage.
CEXs have continually improved their features and offerings to meet the needs of the community. Recently, some networks introduced a host of DeFi features to remain competitive against DEXS such as staking and liquidity mining. CEXs have also gone as far as to add FDIC insurance to fiat accounts and more.
Stablecoins
Stablecoins have been a part of the market since its earliest days but it wasn’t until the introduction of TetherUSD that everything changed. TetherUSD launched on the Bitfinex exchange in 2017. It was an instant success but later ran into scrutiny when it was revealed that Bitfinex and TetherUSD’s management shared a lot of the same people.
Stablecoins are unique in that they gain stability through the use of third-party reserves such as gold, fiat currency, or other cryptocurrencies. The goal of stablecoins is to provide a way for traders to escape volatility without having to leave the blockchain ecosystem.
These digital assets have become a crucial part of many traders’ strategies when seeking relief from short-term volatility. Additionally, they are ideal for businesses because they are denominated in familiar fiat currency format which makes them easier for accounting firms to register
Stablecoin Options
Today there are a lot of different types of stablecoins available. Notably, each type of stablecoin has advantages and disadvantages in terms of its capabilities and overall stability. For example, fiat stablecoins are the most popular and widely used. However, they require a user to have faith in the issuing party as constant audits and trust must be established.
Crypto-backed stablecoins are a cool concept because they eliminate the need for audits as all transactions occur on-chain. The drawback to this approach is that there are times when both the reserve currency and the crypto lose value quickly. During these times it can be impossible for these projects to remain stable as it becomes very difficult to balance the reserves.
Bitcoin Hard Forks
There have been a few issues in the crypto market more polarizing than the Bitcoin Cash hard fork. When this incident occurred in 2017 it was a massive debate between the community that turned
heated quickly. At the time, Bitcoin was suffering from crushing congestion. It was nearly impossible to use the network and something needed to be done.
There were two alternatives to the scenario. There was one group that wanted to increase the block size from 1MB to 2MB to enable more data to be processed. The other side of the argument was to not change the 1MB requirements but instead alter how much data was sent per transaction.
The debate got so heated that it resulted in the community splitting and a new crypto called Bitcoin Cash forming. The Bitcoin Cash project had support from many top Bitcoiners and even Bitmain’s mining executives. Despite all of the support, the Bitcoin Core community didn’t want to alter the block size of BTC to avoid having to constantly do so.
In the end, Bitcoin Cash became a fairly successful project while Bitcoin employed other methods to improve scalability such as the Lightning Network and Segwit upgrades. Since that time, there have been a lot of Bitcoin hard forks but none as controversial or heated as the Bitcoin Cash battle.
ICOs
When the ERC-20 token standard went live it meant that nearly all businesses could leverage Initial Coin Offerings to secure funding. An ICO is like an IPO (Initial Public Offering) in that it provides business access to much-needed capital to expand operations and new projects.
The main difference is that an ICO is far less expensive to operate. The cost of taking a company public with an IPO can be +$1M. In comparison, you can launch an ICO for well under $100K. The lower costs combined with the insane amount of funding that these campaigns secured helped to make ICOs a popular option.
ICO usage skyrocketed at the end of 2017 and early 2018. It later slowed as the SEC began to question the validity of some of these projects. This confusion led the ICO market to slow considerably over the last 2 years.
DEXs
The introduction of DEXS has been a real game-changer for all. The first and most popular DEX is Uniswap. DEXs are different from CEXs because they don’t use an order book to determine the value of assets. Most DEXs operate using AMM protocols. Advanced market-making systems connect traders without the need for an order book.
The first DEXS experienced a lot of problems such as slippage using this method of tracking asset value. It wasn’t until Oracle sensors became more reliable that DEXS could use these systems to track the price of digital assets in real time. Today, DEXS are faster, more secure, and offer way more features than their predecessors.
The biggest change to DEXs from their early days is their focus on the user experience. It used to be very complicated for a user to convert to a DEX because they didn’t understand how utility tokens were needed to conduct transactions and other nuances of blockchain networks.
Today’s DEXs look and feel like CEXs in many regards. They have advanced features with some even offering services such as leverage trading and more. The expansion of the DEX market has provided more competitive options for users and improved security.
DEXs drive security because they are non-custodial. This structure means that your tokens trade directly from your wallet. As such, you are never separated from your holding due to upgrades, downtime, hacks, or other issues that have plagued the CEX market since day one.
DeFi Era
The DeFi era has been an exciting one for crypto enthusiasts. DeFi (decentralized finance) is a term that refers to the creation of financial tools on the blockchain. The goal of these systems is to eliminate human intervention and make it easy for anyone to unbiasedly secure passive income.
DeFi is one of the most creative aspects of the market with new features and services entering the industry monthly. Staking and farming protocols are the most common DeFi options available today. Both of these options require you to provide liquidity to a smart contract in exchange for rewards.
Safehaven Tokens
Safehaven tokens are the culmination of over a decade of evolution within the market. These digital assets provide stability through the use of reserves like stablecoins but improve results through the integration of additional protections to keep you safe.
For example, the META 1 Coin prevents whale manipulation by preventing non-humans, trading firms, and bots from entering the market. Additionally, it has an asset control mechanism that prevents pump-and-dumps from occurring. These features coupled with the DeFi options make META 1 Coin one of the most advanced cryptocurrencies ever.
There’s a lot more to come
After evaluating these epic moments in crypto history it should become obvious that every day presents the potential for another breakthrough in the technology. For now, networks like META 1 Coin continue to leverage ingenuity to create even more exciting and useful assets