Bitcoin in the News : 2016-12 More++

My previous post, Bitcoin in the News : 2016-12 Price, documented the price rise in December. What else was newsworthy? A year ago, in Bitcoin in the News : 2015-12, I wrote,

December is the month when journalists look back at the major stories of the waning year. It's also the month when they look forward to imagine what the coming year will bring.

This is no less true now than it was then, and the first article that bubbles to the surface is 2017: The Second Era of Bitcoin Begins (coindesk.com). Unfortunately, the article doesn't explain its title, unless 'there can be only one bitcoin' is somehow indicative of an era. It does, however, lead to a slew of articles under the title

• 2016 Review News (also coindesk.com; '2nd annual CoinDesk Year in Review')

Of the 50 linked stories, only 11 have the word 'bitcoin' in the title, while 33 have the word 'blockchain', which is the real news of 2016/2017. When has there been so much excitement about a data structure?

Another article, Bitcoin Price Prediction for 2017: 6 Major Events to Impact Bitcoin Value (cointelegraph.com), has in fact three bullets:-

• Segwit, Lightning, Tumblebit ['all scalability solutions initially introduced to facilitate larger amounts of transactions']
• Approval of Bitcoin ETFs
• Financial crash and economic instability

Yet another article, Roger Ver: 2017 Will Be the Best Year for Bitcoin, offers an opinion that echoes the previous list.

• Bitcoin ETF in 2017?
• Blocksize challenges
• Security issues
• Bitcoin will regulate governments ['it will be Bitcoin that regulates governments, not the other way around']

Ver, 'owner of Bitcoin.com', which might make him less than objective on the subject, 'holds the belief that there is good reason to think that 2017 will be the best year for bitcoin'. I wonder what the owner of Blockchain.com is saying.

Bitcoin in the News : 2016-12 Price

The big bitcoin news of the last month of 2016 was a massive price rise. I counted four stories from one source alone (Business Insider : uk.businessinsider.com).

2016-12-22: Bitcoin is surging

The price of digital currency bitcoin continues to surge on Thursday, up over 5% against the dollar by mid-morning in London. The digital currency broke through $800 a bitcoin on Wednesday and ended the day at $826.29.

2016-12-27: Bitcoin is soaring

Bitcoin is soaring as traders return to work after the extended Christmas break. The cryptocurrency is trading up 3% to more than $929 and is at its best level in three years.

2016-12-28: Bitcoin is still storming higher

Bitcoin's incredible rally continues on Wednesday, up close to 3% against the dollar in early trade in London. The digital currency is up 2.8% to $958.52. Bitcoin has shot up over $150 over the last week, with little obvious spur for the price rise. Bitcoin is now at its highest level since November 2013 when it reached $1000.

2016-12-30: China is behind the latest bitcoin craze

Bitcoin had a great 2016. The cryptocurrency rallied 120% to $952, threatening to break the $1,000 mark for the first time since 2013. While bitcoin has seen a consistent bid throughout the year, its 57% gain (in US dollar terms) over the past three months has been particularly impressive. • So what's behind the move? • China.

China is as good a guess as any, but it's still just a guess. The last time I did a post in price action was Bitcoin in the News : 2016-06 Price (July 2016). Like so many Yahoo services, the charting service I used for that post has declined in quality. Here's what I get now for the month of December.

BTCUSD=X Interactive Stock Chart - Yahoo Finance

Prices before 12 December (which gives BTC = 778 USD) are marked 'N/A'. The peak for the month shows about 975 USD. Since the end of December, the price has come down considerably, but I'll look at that in the news for January 2017.