Bitcoin meetup 7 presentation State of Bitcoin

Rihards Gailums

Twitter: @RihardsGailums

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

•Personal Introductions•Rihards Gailums, Riga High Tech University, "State of Bitcoin 2015 report. Analysis and discussions»

•Brainstorm: Bitcoin Education Curriculum•Announcements•Summary

Agenda

Who am I

What I am doing

What is my Bitcoin experience

Introduction

Featured events

BITCOIN PRICE

1BTC = 277 $

Featured Startup

Sponsors

For Startups by Meetup members:

$1800 per year of FREE Azure cloud servicesFree Microsoft software and tools

Latvijas Garantiju Aģentūra

Government corporations which supports Latvian entepreneurs

and helps in realisation of their business ideas.

Speakers

State of Bitcoin 2015

7th January 2015

Contents

1. 2014 in Review

1. Q4 Summary

• Price and Valuation

• Media

• VC Investment

• Commerce

• Technology

• Regulation and Macro

26State of Bitcoin 2015

About CoinDesk

• World leader in digital currency news, prices and information

• The Bitcoin Price Index serves as an industry reference point

• International team headquartered in London

• Editors based in London, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo



2014 in Review

Summary


Sustained price pressure may lead to a shakeout in the mining sector and likely consolidation among exchanges

Overall, 2014 was a ‘tale of two bitcoins’ – the bitcoin economy made progress while bitcoin’s price saw a steady decline

All-time bitcoin VC investment passed $400m in Q4 and exceeded early-stage Internet investment in 1995

Q4 saw some regulatory clarity with welcomed revisions to the NY BitLicense and no new major regulatory setbacks

Larger businesses continue to adopt bitcoin, with Microsoft and Time accepting bitcoin in Q4

Bitcoin was the worst-performing currency in 2014, down 67% and another 18% so far in 2015

Key Bitcoin Adoption Metrics


Sources and notes: CoinDesk, Blockchain.info, BitcoinPulse, Github, Coin ATM Radar. Figures are cumulative from start of records, except unique bitcoin

addresses and media mentions, which are figures for the quarter ending that month.

Quarterly Last 12 Months

Dec-14 Sep-14 Q/Q Δ Dec-13 Δ

Commerce

Wallets 7,948,272 6,559,978 21% 3,194,584 2x

Merchants 82,000 76,000 8% 35,903 2x

Merchants’ annual revenue ($bn) 180 86 109% 0 N/A

ATMs 341 251 36% 4 85x

Unique bitcoin addresses 157,377 184,554 -15% 108,166 45%

Industry

All-time VC investment ($m) 432.7 302.9 43% 97.9 4x

Number of VC-backed startups 83 68 22% 30 3x

Media

Mainstream media mentions 673 687 -2% 2,889 -76%

Technology

Network hash rate (billion/second) 335,365,290 249,839,180 34% 9,920,977 34x

Github no. of updated repositories 23,249 18,753 24% 4,410 5x

Valuation

Bitcoin market capitalization ($bn) 4.3 5.2 -17% 9.3 -54%

http://www.blockchain.info

http://www.bitcoinpulse.com

http://www.github.com

http://coinatmradar.com/

$200

$300

$400

$500

$600

$700

$800

$900

$1 000

Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14 Jul-14 Aug-14 Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14

11 Apr

PBOC official

says China will

not ban bitcoin

11 Aug

Blockchain first

company to pass

over 2m bitcoin

wallets

11 Dec

Microsoft adds

bitcoin payments

for Xbox games

and mobile content

Key Events and Price Chart in 2014


23 Sep

PayPal

announces

bitcoin

partnerships

11 Feb

Massive DDoS attack exploits

transaction malleability bug

Source: CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index, daily data collected at 00:00 UTC www.coindesk.com/price

18 Jul

Dell

announces it

will accept

bitcoin

18 DecFavorable revisions

made to proposed NY

BitLicense

18 Jun

List of possible

Silk Road bitcoin

bidders leaked by

US Marshals

6 Mar

Newsweek claims to

have found bitcoin

inventor Satoshi

Nakamoto

25 Feb

Mt Gox closes,

announces

744,408 BTC

($350m) missing

12 Jun

$18m in Silk

Road bitcoins

sold by US

Government2 Jul

VC Tim Draper

revealed as Silk

Road bitcoin

auction winner

http://www.coindesk.com/price

Total Exchange Trading Volume

Increased by Over 50%


Sources: CoinDesk, Blockchain.info, Bitcoinity

Total Bitcoin Trading Volume (BTC)

51

80

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

2013 2014

Millions

$15

$23

$0

$5

$10

$15

$20

$25

2013 2014

Billions

Total Bitcoin Trading Volume ($bn)

http://www.blockchain.info

http://bitcoinity.org/markets

2014 Bitcoin Venture Capital Investment


$433m$335m

Total VC investment in

cryptocurrency startups to date:2014 bitcoin VC investment:

$96m2013 bitcoin VC investment:

+342%Increase in total to-date VC investment from end of 2013:

Source: CoinDesk (www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-venture-capital/)

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-venture-capital/

Two Biggest VC Deals in 2014


$30m $30.5m(Series A) October 2014(Series A) May 2014



2014 Bitcoin VC Investment Surpassed

Early-Stage Internet Investment


*Includes first sequence venture deals but excludes late-stage 1995 Internet investments ($257.6m). For additional disclosure

on methodology see www.coindesk.com/following-money-trends-bitcoin-venture-capital-investment/

$95.8

$334.8

$250,1

$0

$50

$100

$150

$200

$250

$300

$350

2013 Bitcoin 2014 Bitcoin 1995 Internet*

Bitcoin vs Early Internet VC Investment ($m)

Sources: CoinDesk, PricewaterhouseCoopers

http://www.coindesk.com/following-money-trends-bitcoin-venture-capital-investment/

http://pwc.blogs.com/press_room/a-brief-history-of-pwc.html

Number of Countries With Bitcoin VC

Investment Grew From 8 to 18 in 2014


New countries receiving investment for bitcoin companies in 2014: Japan, Netherlands, Panama,

Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, Germany, India, Mexico, Argentina

Countries

receiving

first VC

investment

in 2012-13

Countries

receiving

first VC

investment

in 2014

Source: CoinDesk (www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-venture-capital/), generated by DataWrapper


2013 vs 2014 Investment Shift Towards

Wallets, Mining and Financial Services


2013 vs 2014 VC Investment by Ecosystem Category


$25,4 $26,7

$49,7

$69,5 $75,4

$88,1

$40,5

$24,0

$3,2

$12,1 $15,0

$1,1 $0

$10

$20

$30

$40

$50

$60

$70

$80

$90

$100

Universal Exchange PaymentProcessor

Mining FinancialServices

Wallet

2014 VC Investment (millions) 2013 VC Investment (millions)


Companies Moving into New Product Categories


WalletInfrastructure

Jul 2013+

Wallet +Exchange

Sep 2014

Payment Processor

+Infrastructure

Feb 2014

Exchange

Sep 2014+

Source: CoinDesk

Mergers and Acquisitions Announced in

2014, More Expected in 2015


Oct 2014

Aug 2014

Aug 2014

Jul 2014

Source: CoinDesk

Number of Universal Bitcoin Companies

Doubled in 2014


• Universals operate across more than

one aspect of the bitcoin value chain

(eg Coinplug provides payment

processing, wallet and ATMs)

• More and more bitcoin startups

continue to pursue the universal

model

• Universal bitcoin companies leverage

two key elements of financial

services: efficiency and trust

The Universals

2013

2014

Total Altcoins Grew from 64 to 590 in 2014, Bitcoin’s

Market Cap is 6X Larger Than the Next Biggest


Source: CoinMarketCap data as of 3rd Jan 2015

Rank Name MarketCap

1 Bitcoin $ 4,132,670,815

2 Ripple $ 706,795,764

3 Litecoin $ 79,521,355

4 BitShares $ 38,420,086

5 PayCoin $ 35,959,731

6 MaidSafeCoin $ 23,917,169

7 Nxt $ 18,392,947

8 Stellar $ 17,713,142

9 Dogecoin $ 17,145,911

10 Peercoin $ 11,573,821

http://coinmarketcap.com/


Q4 2014


Price and Valuation

CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index –

Q4 & YTD by the Numbers


Source: CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index, daily data collected at 00:00 UTC

www.coindesk.com/price


$300

$325

$350

$375

$400

$425

$450

30-sep 07-okt 14-okt 21-okt 28-okt 04-nov 11-nov 18-nov 25-nov 02-dec 09-dec 16-dec 23-dec 30-dec

Bitcoin’s Price Fluctuated Throughout Q4 on Mixed News


11 Dec

Microsoft adds bitcoin

payments for Xbox

games and mobile

content3 Oct

Russia proposes

monetary penalties

for bitcoin use and

promotion

Source: CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index, daily data collected at 00:00 UTC www.coindesk.com/price

16 Oct

Bitcoin Group

seeks to launch

world's first

Bitcoin IPO

Boost VC goes

‘full bitcoin' for

next startup

mentor round

22 Nov

4 DecDaily bitcoin

transactions pass

100,000 milestone10 Dec

Hacker returns

225 BTC taken

from Blockchain

wallets

18 Dec

Lawsky outlines

relaxation of New

York BitLicense

12 Nov

Bitcoin price

surges past $400

mark for the first

time since mid-

October


Monthly Exchange Trading Volume

Increased in Q4 …


Sources: CoinDesk, Bitcoinity

0

2 000 000

4 000 000

6 000 000

8 000 000

10 000 000

12 000 000

14 000 000

16 000 000

18 000 000

jan.14 feb.14 mar.14 apr.14 mai.14 jūn.14 jūl.14 aug.14 sep.14 okt.14 nov.14 dec.14

Monthly Bitcoin Trading Volume (bitcoins)


…and Recently Surpassed Previous Highs

From End of 2013



0

2 000 000

4 000 000

6 000 000

8 000 000

10 000 000

12 000 000

14 000 000

16 000 000

18 000 000

Jan-13 Apr-13 Jul-13 Oct-13 Jan-14 Apr-14 Jul-14 Oct-14

Monthly Bitcoin Trading Volume (bitcoins)


State of Altcoins: Growth Rate of New Altcoins Slowed in Q4

by More Than 15%, Market Cap Share Steady at 9%*


Sources: CoinMarketCap, Internet Archive

Tota

l N

um

ber

of A

ltcoin

s

*Altcoin market cap share calculated by dividing the sum of all non-bitcoin cryptocurrency market caps by all cryptocurrency market caps

(including bitcoin). For example, if altcoins have 8% market value share, then bitcoin has 92% market value share. Total number of altcoins

is the number at the end of each quarter.

64

216

347

483

590

68,4%

237,5%

60,6%

39,2%

22,2%

0%

50%

100%

150%

200%

250%

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Dec-13 Mar-14 Jun-14 Sep-14 Dec-14

Total Number of Altcoins

Quarterly Growth in NewAltcoins

http://coinmarketcap.com/

http://archive.org/web/


Media

Selection of Q4’s Biggest Bitcoin Stories


White-hat hacker exploits security flaw in

Blockchain wallets to take 255 BTC

Microsoft is now the most notable business on

the list of bitcoin-accepting businesses

Overstock significantly misses 2014

bitcoin sales projections

Bitcoin

network

difficulty

declined for

first time in

two years

News Coverage of Bitcoin Declined on Most Mainstream

News Sites in Q4


News Published Mentioning Bitcoin

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

FT

NYT

WSJ

Sina

Q3 2014

Q4 2014

Note: Numbers of stories obtained by searching ‘bitcoin’ on respective publishers’ websites

Sources: respective publishers’ websites

‘Bitcoin Price’ is Top Q4 Search Term,

‘Bitcoin Bowl’ Achieved High Share


Past 90 Days

Related Searches: Top Related Searches: Rising

Past 12 Months

Source: Google Trends data as of 3rd Jan 2015


VC Investment

Two Biggest Bitcoin VC Deals in Q4


$30.5m $21m(Series A) November 2014(Series A) October 2014



Q4 Bitcoin Venture Capital Investment Nearly

Doubled Q3 Total


$433m$130m

Total VC investment in

cryptocurrency startups to date:Q4 2014 bitcoin VC investment:

$64mQ3 2014 bitcoin VC investment:

Sources: CoinDesk (www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-venture-capital/), CrunchBase

+43%Increase in total to-date VC investment from end of Q3:


Europe Continues to Heat Up as Overall Investment Share

Increased in Q4, Largest Regional Q/Q% Increase


RegionsQ4

($m)

Q3

($m)

Q/Q Δ

($m)Q/Q Δ

US &

Canada285.4 215.8 69.6 32%

Europe 99.2 48.7 50.5 104%

Asia 31.0 26.9 4.1 15%

Middle

East10.5 5.5 5.0 91%

Latin

America6.0 6.0 0.0 0%

Total 430.5 303.5 127.4 42%

$ Invested as of Q3

• Middle East had the second largest Q/Q% increase in investment

• US & Canada share declined slightly, but still dominated with 66% of all VC $

to dateNote: $ invested represents all-time total bitcoin VC investment at the end of each respective quarter. The

headquarters of one company receiving VC investment in Q4 is unknown.


$ Invested as of Q4

US & Canada

71%

Europe16%

Asia9%

Middle East 2%

Latin America

2%

US & Canada

66%

Europe23%

Asia7%

Middle East 3%

Latin America

1%


While the US Continues to Dominate Bitcoin VC

Investment, Total Share Declined by 11% in Q4



$0,2 $0,3 $0,3 $0,3 $0,5 $0,6 $0,8 $1,2 $1,8 $3,4 $4,0 $6,9 $10,5 $14,9 $18,1 $25,0

$40,7 $42,9

$260,4

$0

$50

$100

$150

$200

$250

$300

Total Funding (millions)


Silicon Valley’s Share of All-Time Bitcoin VC Investment

Declined Slightly From 29% in Q3 to 27% in Q4


Tech hub

concentrationValue ($m)

No. of

companies

Silicon Valley 116.4 15

Rest of World 316.3 68

Total 432.7 83

• Total number of VC-backed bitcoin companies increased from 68 in Q3 to 83

in Q4, a 22% increase

$ Invested No. of Companies


Silicon Valley27%

Rest of World73%

Silicon Valley18%

Rest of World82%


The Bitcoin Startup Ecosystem:

Six Different Bitcoin Company Categories


Universal

Payment

Processing

Wallets

Mining

Financial

Services

Exchanges

Wallets Raised the Most Funding in Q4,

Followed by Mining and Financial Services


Q4 VC Investment by Ecosystem Category (millions)


$2,7 $2,7

$16,0

$33,6 $34,8

$40,0

$0

$5

$10

$15

$20

$25

$30

$35

$40

$45

Universal

Exchange

Payment Processor

Mining

Financial Services

Wallet


Financial Services Took Over Universal, Receiving the Most VC

Investment


• Wallets, Financial Services and Mining sectors continued to receive the lion’s share

of investment in Q4

• Universals only received $2.7m in last quarter

$ Invested as of Q3$ Invested as of Q4

Note: $ invested represents all-time total bitcoin VC investment at the end of each respective quarter.


Universal 15%

Financial Services

21%

Mining 19%

Wallet21%

Exchange 12%

Payment Processor

12% Universal 21%

Financial Services

18%

Mining 16%

Wallet16%

Exchange 16%

Payment Processor

13%

SectorQ4

($m)

Q3

($m)

Q/Q Δ

($m)Q/Q Δ

Universal 66.5 63.8 2.7 4%

Financial

Services90.4 55.6 34.8 62%

Mining 81.6 48.0 33.6 70%

Wallet 89.2 49.2 40.0 81%

Exchange 50.7 48.0 2.7 6%

Payment

Processor54.3 38.3 16.0 42%

Total 432.7 302.9 129.8 43%


Q4 Investment Rounds in Bitcoin Startups


Source: CoinDesk (http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-venture-capital/)

Close Date Company Size ($m) Round Select Investors Headquartered

Dec-14 Bitreserve 9.5 Second Undisclosed San Francisco

Dec-14 BitGold 3.5 ThirdPowerOne Capital, Soros Brothers

Investments, Sandstorm GoldToronto

Dec-14 PeerNova 8.6 FirstMosaik Partners, Steve Case,

Crypto Currency PartnersSan Jose

Dec-14 ChangeTip 3.5 First

Pantera Capital, 500 Startups,

Boldstart Ventures, CryptoCurrency

Partners

San Francisco

Dec-14 DigiByte 0.25 Seed Undisclosed Santa Monica

Dec-14 GetGems 0.6 Seed Magma VC Unknown

Nov-14 Purse.io 0.3 SeedRoger Ver, Bobby Lee, Terrence

Yang, FundersClub, StrongVCSan Francisco

Nov-14 Blockstream 21 First

Reid Hoffman, Khosla Ventures,

Real Ventures, Crypto Currency

Partners

Montreal



(contd.)




Nov-14 Dogetipbot 0.45 SeedBlackbird Ventures, Scott and Cyan

Banister, Individual InvestorsRedding

Nov-14 CoinOutlet 0.05 Seed BitcoinShop New York

Oct-14Spondoolies-

Tech5 Second

Agile Wings, BRM Group, Genesis

Partners, Olivier JanssensKiryat Gat

Oct-14 BitLendingClub 0.25 Seed LAUNCHub San Francisco

Oct-14 Bitnet 14.5 First

Highland Capital Partners,

Rakuten, James Pallotta, Stuart

Peterson

San Francisco

Oct-14 AlphaPoint 1.35 SeedBen Franklin Technology Partners,

Robin Hood VenturesNew York

Oct-14 Coinsetter 1.3 First Unknown New York

Oct-14 BitFlyer 0.24 Seed Bitcoin Opportunity Corp. Tokyo



(contd.)




Oct-14 Libra 0.5 SeedLiberty City Ventures, James

Pallotta, Ben DavenportSan Francisco

Oct-14 Melotic 1.18 SeedCeyuan Ventures, Lightspeed

China, Bitcoin Opportunity CorpHong Kong

Oct-14 Devign Lab 0.2 Seed K Cube Ventures Seoul

Oct-14 BitFury 20 SecondBill Tai, Bob Dykes, Georgian Co-

Investment Fund, Lars RasmussenAmsterdam

Oct-14 Coinplug 2.5 FirstMirae Asset Venture Investment,

Bokwang Investment CorpSeoul

Oct-14 Blockchain 30.5 FirstLightspeed Ventures, Wicklow

Capital, Mosaic VenturesYork

Oct-14 SolidX 3 FirstLiberty City Ventures, James

PallottaNew York

Oct-14 Snapcard 1.5 SeedTim Draper, Crypto Currency

Partners, Insikt VenturesSan Francisco



Commerce

>82,000 Merchants Now Accept Bitcoin,

Up From 75,000 in Q3 (+9%)


44K 38KSources: Coinbase and BitPay

http://www.coinbase.com

http://www.bitpay.com

Total merchants Forecasted merchants

140,000 Bitcoin-Accepting Merchants

Forecast by End of 2015


Sources and notes: total current merchants based on data from Coinbase and BitPay. Historical Coinbase data provided by BitcoinPulse.

BitPay historical data between new merchant press release announcements of 10,000 (16th Sep 2013), 20,000 (13th Jan 2014) and 30,000

(28th May 2014), respectively, calculated using linear interpolation.

R² = 0,962

0

20 000

40 000

60 000

80 000

100 000

120 000

140 000

160 000


http://www.bitpay.com

http://www.bitcoinpulse.com

Growth in Bitcoin-Accepting Businesses

Slowed Throughout 2014



13 903

16 800

12 936

10 360

6 000

0

2 000

4 000

6 000

8 000

10 000

12 000

14 000

16 000

18 000

Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014

Number of New Bitcoin-Accepting Businesses Added Each Quarter


Companies Representing >$180 Billion in

Annual Revenue Now Accept Bitcoin


Top 10 Largest Bitcoin-Accepting Retailers

*Monprix is a private company; most recent revenue data is from 2005. TigerDirect estimate provided by parent company investor relations. Other divisions

that are part of a larger parent organization, but do not break out individual divisional revenues, are excluded.

Rank Company Annual Revenue ($bn)

1 Microsoft 86.8

2 Dell 56.9

3 Dish Network 13.9

4 Expedia 5.0

5 Intuit 4.5

6 Monprix* 4.3

7 Time Inc.** 3.4

8 NewEgg 2.8

9 Overstock 1.3

10 TigerDirect* 1.0

Total $179.9

**The revenue is Time Inc. FY 2013 revenue

Sources: CoinDesk, Coinbase, BitPay, companies’ annual reports

What Do People Buy with Bitcoins?

Home Goods & Consumer Electronics


Source: most popular items purchased through Purse.io by November 2014

Trashbags Coffee Grinder Infant Formula

Home

Goods

Bluetooth SpeakerDigital CameraPlaystation

Consumer

Electronics

Total Wallets Forecasted Wallets

Approximately 12 Million Bitcoin Wallets

Forecast by End of 2015


R2 = 0.971

Sources and notes: total wallets based on data from Blockchain.info, MultiBit, Coinbase, Andreas Schildbach (Android Bitcoin Wallet

developer). Historical Coinbase data provided by BitcoinPulse.

0

2 000 000

4 000 000

6 000 000

8 000 000

10 000 000

12 000 000

14 000 000

jan.1

3

mar.

13

mai.13

jūl.13

sep.1

3

no

v.1

3

jan.1

4

mar.

14

mai.14

jūl.14

sep.1

4

no

v.1

4

jan.1

5

mar.

15

mai.15

jūl.15

sep.1

5

no

v.1

5

jan.1

6

https://blockchain.info/charts

https://multibit.org/


http://www.bitcoinpulse.com/

Daily Bitcoin Transactions Passed

100,000 for the First Time in Q4


Source: Blockchain.info

• Questions linger over how significant a milestone this is, given uncertainty over

how many of these transactions represent bona fide economic activities

https://blockchain.info/charts

Now Over 320 Bitcoin ATMs

Around the World


Source: CoinDesk (www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-atm-map/)

1213246

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-atm-map/

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

Oct-13 Jan-14 Apr-14 Jul-14 Oct-14 Jan-15 Apr-15 Jul-15 Oct-15 Jan-16

Total ATMs Forecasted ATMs

Approximately 750 Bitcoin ATMs Forecast by

End of 2015


R2 = 0.973

Sources: CoinDesk, CoinATMRadar


Lamassu Led ATM Deployments in 2014,

Skyhook Became Second Largest


Lamassu

accounts

for over a

third of the

bitcoin ATM

market

Sources: CoinDesk, CoinATMRadar


Most Bitcoin ATMs Located in Stores,

Restaurants and Coffee Shops


Source: CoinDesk, www.coindesk.com/6-charts-show-massive-bitcoin-atm-growth-2014/

http://www.coindesk.com/6-charts-show-massive-bitcoin-atm-growth-2014/


Technology

0

5 000 000 000

10 000 000 000

15 000 000 000

20 000 000 000

25 000 000 000

30 000 000 000

35 000 000 000

40 000 000 000

45 000 000 000

jan.14 feb.14 mar.14 apr.14 mai.14 jūn.14 jūl.14 aug.14 sep.14 okt.14 nov.14 dec.14

Bitcoin Network Difficulty Declined for First

Time in Two Years


The drop in difficulty was

expected due to depressed

bitcoin prices*

*CoinDesk examined the issue in September 2014 and concluded that difficulty could reverse if prices do not recover www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-mining-

can-longer-ignore-moores-law/

Source: CoinDesk

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-mining-can-longer-ignore-moores-law/

Discus Fish

AntPool

GHash.IO

KnCMiner

BTCChina Pool

BTC Guild

Slush

Unknown with 1AcAj9p Address

Eligius

P2Pool

Bitcoin Affiliate Network

Unknown with

1BwZeHJ Address

BitMinterMegabigpowerMegaBigPower

EclipseMC

mmpool

Polmine

CloudHashing

Unknown

Mining Pools: GHash Continues to Shrink,

No Permanent Solution for 51% Attack Risk Yet


Source: 4-day average as of 3rd Jan 2015 blockchain.info/pools

http://www.blockchain.info/pools

CoinBase’s API Gaining Traction With

44 Bitcoin Apps Built on it


Source: CoinBase

Bitcoin Developer Ecosystem Continues to Grow


Number of created repositories in GitHub with bitcoin in the name or description

Source: BitcoinPulse


Number of Bitcoin Nodes Has Leveled Off in

Last Two Quarters


Source: BitcoinPulse


Crypto 2.0 Projects to Keep an Eye on in 2015


BitAssets – allowing traders to hedge

against bitcoin's fluctuations

Alternative blockchain to bitcoin’s

Decentralised social messenger

Bringing smart contracts to market

Source: CoinDesk

Bitcoin Companies are Collaborating on

Security Across Industry Sectors


Source: CoinDesk

Adoption of Multi-signature (Multisig) Wallet

Security Increased in 2014


• Multisig: advertised as the digital equivalent of a safe deposit box.

• At the beginning of 2014, only 0.02% of all bitcoins featured multisig

security, that number is now more than 5%.

• These companies now utilize multisig:

Source: BitGo

http://p2sh.info/


Regulation and Macro

Over 250 Academic Articles on Bitcoin to Date

Cover a Wide Range of Research Topics


Source: Peer-to-Peer Review: The State of Academic Bitcoin Research 2014 by Brett Scott.

Word Cloud of 250 article titles generated using Tagul.

A Number of Countries Expressing Interest

in Regulating Bitcoin as a Commodity


• US Commodities Futures and Trading Commission said it had oversight over

bitcoin and digital currencies because they could be defined as a commodity.

• Bitcoin has been classified as a commodity in Finland after the Scandinavian

country’s central bank declared that it did not meet the definition of a currency.

• Grant Spencer, deputy governor of New Zealand's Reserve Bank, said bitcoin

"behaves more like a commodity than a currency”.

Source: CoinDesk

Some Positive Developments with

New York’s BitLicense Regulatory Framework


• New York’s BitLicense regulatory proposal

widely regarded as a possible framework for

other jurisdictions.

• Ben Lawsky announced the latest revisions

to the draft BitLicense in mid-December.

• Clarified and narrowed which players in the

digital currency industry would be required to

obtain a BitLicense.

• Fewer disclosure and record-keeping

requirements for transactions.

• The proposed record-keeping

requirement for licensees reduced from 10 to

seven years.

• Broader range of financial assets (that

includes virtual currency) that can be

counted towards licensees' capital

requirements.

Ben Lawsky

Source: CoinDesk

Some Bitcoin Firms are Making Progress with Banking

Relationships


Source: CoinDesk

Safello first to

partner with UK

bank

Unisend re-

established

partnership with

a state bank

UK Banks

Russia is Illustrative of the Topsy-Turvy

Nature of Bitcoin Regulation


3 Oct

Russia proposes

monetary penalty

for bitcoin usage

and promotion

4 Dec

Russian

conference

presses on under

threat of bitcoin

ban

10 Nov

Russia lowers

proposed

penalties for

bitcoin activities

29 Dec

Russian

ministry

criticises draft

bill banning

bitcoin

9 Oct

Russia's startups

seek refuge

abroad under threat

of bitcoin ban

6 Oct

Russia seizes

bitcoin mining

equipment in incident

at China border

Source: CoinDesk

Highlights for bitcoin in 2014

• 25% mention more merchants’ acceptance, VC investment and

technology improvement

Biggest setback for bitcoin in 2014

• 33% mention price drop and Mt Gox’s collapse

What to look forward to for bitcoin in 2015

• 83% expect bitcoin VC funding to surpass investment in 2014

• 54% indicate US and Argentina are likely to see greater relative

adoption of bitcoin

• 42% mention security development as a focus

• 33% mention bitcoin seeing more traction in emerging markets

Highlights from Bitcoin Thought

Leaders Survey


Source: CoinDesk Bitcoin Thought Leader Annual Survey (an informal survey sent to a small number of bitcoin community influencers)

Factoring in Remittance Fees Makes Sub-

Saharan Africa Most Fertile Market for Bitcoin …


Source: Hileman (2014) ‘Bitcoin Market Potential Index’, London School of Economics working paper.Announcement article: www.coindesk.com/argentina-most-likely-adopt-bitcoin/

BMPI Regional Distribution -Top 30

BMPI Regional Distribution -Top 10

Asia 0%

Europe 10%

Middle East & North

Africa 10%

Latin America

20%

US & Canada

10%

Sub-Saharan

Africa 40%

Post-Soviet/Communist 10% Asia

7%

Europe 3%

Middle East & North

Africa 13%

Latin America

17%

US & Canada 3%

Sub-Saharan

Africa 40%

Post-Soviet/Communist 17%

http://www.coindesk.com/argentina-most-likely-adopt-bitcoin/

Illegal

Restricted

Legal

… Yet Bitcoin Regulation in Africa

Lags Behind the Rest of the World


Source: Wikipedia

Bitcoin Startup pitch

• A description of the problem - what is currently wrong with the field of cryptocurrencies and what should be changed. Technical, technological, legal, educational and other aspects.

• Description of the Bitcoin Education programm goal - what have to be changed. The activities and results .

• What specific steps need to be taken in order to achieve the aims and what would the results be when the project is still ongoing?

• What would be the "wow" effect of Bitcoin education project and what would make it stand out from the rest?

Discussion around Bitcoin education:

Announcements

- Want to develop Bitcoin project?;

- Looking for Bitcoin developer, job offers;

- Bitcoin service offers;

- Event announcements;

- Start-up projects, introductions.

Bitcoin meetup 7 presentation State of Bitcoin

Education

Transcript of Bitcoin meetup 7 presentation State of Bitcoin