Bitcoin in the News : 2017-12 More++

After posting last week's Bitcoin in the News : 2017-12 Price, and before looking at other news from December, I put together the following composite chart. It shows the graphs from all 12 of the '2017-NN Price' posts I wrote over the past year. The links to the individual posts are on the right sidebar. Exactly six of the 12 months (two per row) showed a steady upward trend during the course of the month.

After the price rise, the other story is in the volumes. Daily volumes in the range of 150.000.000 (units?) in January increased to a handful of days over 3.000.000.000 (ditto) in December. That's a 20-fold increase in volume, which roughly tracks the price rise over the same period. The price of bitcoin increased because interest increased, but the available quantity increased only modestly.

The increase in popular interest saw a corresponding increase in articles aimed at newcomers. Take, for example, Bitcoin: Seven questions you were too embarrassed to ask (arstechnica.com). It showed up in my news feed on 3 December, but is currently dated 22 December. The seven questions are:-

1) What's a bitcoin?
2) If Bitcoins aren't tied to a conventional currency, how did they get so valuable?
3) Why would I want to use bitcoin?
4) If Bitcoin has few practical applications, how can it be worth $200 billion?
5) OK, I'm sold. How do I get some?
6) I just made a killing! How do I cash out?
7) Is it true that Bitcoin wastes a ton of energy?

Here are a few more introductory articles that I picked at random. There were more to choose from:-

• 2017-12-02: Everything you need to know about Bitcoin, its origins, and its creator (businessinsider.com)
• 2017-12-16: What the Hell Is Bitcoin? Let This Documentary on Netflix Explain (gq.com; 'Banking on Bitcoin')
• 2017-12-24: Five Bitcoin Must Reads of 2017 (futurism.com)

Last month I wrote another post, Bitcoin Futures, about the start of trading on the CBOE. Here are two more articles from mainstream sources, of which there were again many:-

• 2017-12-09: Bitcoin Futures Trading Brings Crypto Into Mainstream Finance (fortune.com)
• 2017-12-18: Bitcoin trading starts on the huge CME exchange (bbc.com)

As for other stories, contrasting news on the two Koreas is worth watching:-

• 2017-12-20: North Korea's bitcoin is 'the perfect currency' to be holding (cnbc.com; 'Cybersecurity CEO: 'Absolutely' reason to believe North Korea is amassing bitcoin, likely to fund cyberattacks')
• 2017-12-28: Bitcoin Drops as South Korea Says It Could Close Exchanges (fortune.com)

Also relevant, because Coinbase holds my wallet:-

• 2017-12-20: Bitcoin: Coinbase Users Get 'Bitcoin Cash' Windfall (fortune.com)

Some short takes from the article:-

Coinbase, the most popular U.S. crypto-currency exchange, released "Bitcoin Cash" -- a new currency created this summer and currently worth around $3,000 -- into many customer accounts on Tuesday evening. [...] While the arrival of Bitcoin Cash amounts to a windfall for Coinbase customer, it also has the potential to create a nightmare when it comes to dealing with the IRS.

For the Coinbase.com announcement, see Buy, sell, send and receive Bitcoin Cash on Coinbase. This is the fourth cryptocurrency in my account, after Buying Bitcoins (August 2015), Buying Ethereum (December 2016), and Bitcoin in the News : 2017-07 More++ (August 2017; Litecoin).

I can't let a month go by without at least one article on each of two related bitcoin topics: its value and its bubble.

• 2017-12-15: What Is Bitcoin Really Worth? Don’t Even Ask. (nytimes.com; Robert J. Shiller: 'Dabbling in Bitcoin lies somewhere between gambling and investing.')
• 2017-12-27: The easiest way to tell that bitcoin is a huge bubble (washingtonpost.com; 'It's been rising because it's been rising.')

The NYT Shiller article says,

One narrative that seeks to explain the price increases this year is that they have something to do with the difficulty of betting against -- making short sales of -- Bitcoin. Absent the opportunity to engage in short sales, "smart money" can only watch from the sidelines while prices soar.

I also like that word 'dabbling'. In for a penny, in for a pound? No, I'm in for a penny. The first and last time I was in Las Vegas I played a slot machine with nickels and won a whole bucket of them.