Bitcoin Stats 2018 The original blockchain, Bitcoin, traces its history back to 2009. Satoshi Nakamoto is the attributed creator. The true identity of the person or organization who wrote the original whitepaper remains unknown even today. Its purpose was to enable an efficient payment system without using conventional banking channels.

2017-2018: The Year that Introduced the World to Bitcoin

In 2017, 96 countries freely used bitcoins for unrestricted transactions. It was a record-breaking year for cryptocurrencies. The top five Bitcoin mining facts that demonstrated a profound interest in Bitcoin for 2017-2018 were South Africa, Slovenia, Netherlands, Australia, and Singapore. Bitcoin costs and prices have varied vastly across regions of the world. This year demonstrated that the world can come together in a relatively short period of time by using blockchain technologies.

2018

ICOs Overtake Venture Capital Funding

Venture capital crypto funding grew steadily between 2012 and 2016. It fell for the first time in 2017 from $601 million to $554 million. It is very likely that Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) filled some of the funding needs in the cryptocurrency marketplace.

Between January 2014 and April 2017, ICO funding only exceeded $100 million once, in May 2016. From May 2017 to the end of 2017, ICO funding steadily grew to exceed $700 million within a month’s time. According to CoinDesk, $3.5 billion in ICO funding was raised. That is more than five times the venture capital high in 2018.

The Underlying Blockchain

Bitcoin is commonly regarded as a cryptocurrency. However, the underlying blockchain has some very exciting applications. There is a reason so many ICOs are entering the market. But new innovation is not the only area Bitcoin has impacted. Bitcoin has already disrupted the business status quo. Common knowledge to business professionals, the original blockchain is looked at by various industries throughout the world.

Blockchains represent an opportunity to bring trustless and decentralized systems to current business operations. Honest business operations are finding significant advantages in these new properties that affect statistical meddling and immutability. To meet this need, blockchain transactions need to handle a lot of traffic. From 2016 to 2018, the average transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain alone grew by a factor of 6, from about $2,000 per second to $12,000 per second.

Increased transactions can slow down blockchains once blocks fill up. It is this reason that the Lightning Network was introduced. It is still in its early stages. However, 2018 expects to see the Lightning Network’s influence increase transaction speeds.

Current Bitcoin Fees

In mid-March of 2018, Bitcoin fees have significantly fallen. Over a twenty-four-hour period, they were recorded at just under $0.25. This is a stark contrast to the skyrocketing fees that accompanied the bull market at the end of 2017.

Practical Uses

2,163 Bitcoin ATMs existed globally as of February 2018. The United States operated more than half of these with 1,176 nationally. Canada is a distant second with 309. The United Kingdom was the only other country operating more than 100 Bitcoin ATMs.

ATMs represent just one way that Bitcoin is permeating daily life. Several enterprises are promoting online shopping for everyday goods. Many experts believe that this is the next big step toward gaining acceptance as a global currency.

While regulators have taken notice, there are many factors favoring Bitcoin’s success. First of all, blockchains are not part of political mechanisms. While the world may come together to regulate them, it will need to be done as an outside influence. Second, it empowers the people who own currencies. This is a big incentive, but may not be the most impactful. Bitcoin’s blockchain is being looked at by existing multinational corporations. They recognize the advantages of the underlying technology. All these factors taken together are fueling the rapid adoption of Bitcoin as a currency and transaction medium.

Bitcoin Statistics for March 2018

On March 15th, 2018, the price for one Bitcoin opened at $8,256.99. The high for the day was $8,329.93, and the low was $7,924.20. The Bitcoin blockchain market capitalization on March 15th was $137 billion. The total bitcoins in supply was 16,921,488.