State of Bitcoin: Biggest Stories from 2022
Week ending: 2022-12-31
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In our Friday articles, we take a deep dive into the current state of Bitcoin. Every Friday we will continue to publish brief State of Bitcoin newsletters to keep subscribers up to date on news from the Bitcoin industry. For full disclosure, Brandon is a strong believer in Bitcoin and has allocated portions of his portfolios to BTC (HODL baby).
Top stories from the week:
Shitcoin Casinos collapse: The current FTX debacle makes the downfall of Celsius, Voyager, BlockFi, Luna and others seem very distant, but nonetheless it has been the biggest story from 2022. Every single shitcoin casino has failed or is showing signs of failing. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, in the crypto world where there’s smoke, there’s fire. All of these shitcoin casinos have taken user funds, developed ponzi schemes, and overall have screwed customers which they promised yield and other unrealistic things these companies could not cash in on. As we get into 2023, I believe that there will be added regulation and more eyes on this industry as a whole. A lot of companies exploded with easy access to capital and by putting buzzwords like web3 and blockchain in their pitch in order to get insane valuations. This will not hold true in 2023 and you can take that to the bank. More will learn about Bitcoin and self custody. The Bitcoin space will be better for it.
Lightning Network Growth: The Lightning Network has had a ton of growth and companies building and developing on this layer of the Bitcoin protocol. Below is a chart of the overall number of Bitcoin on Lightning Network nodes and the amount transacted. More and more people are using Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. More countries are onboarding Bitcoin. This will continue to grow and more will continue to build on this layer. If you have not already, I encourage everyone to use the Lightning Network in some way, shape, or form in 2023.
Bitcoin miners power off to help with health of grid: This happened on two occasions during the year. Miners allow for excess energy to be produced during easy times, but when the weather throws a curveball, the excess energy can be used to power homes once miners are shut off. Miners shut off during the peak of the summer heat and peak of the winter cold. The ESG narrative is dying and many are starting to see the benefits of Bitcoin mining.
El Salvador prospering and other countries following suit: The Central African Republic, Brazil, and many other countries in Latin America and Africa are beginning to onboard Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. El Salvador has had a couple bumps in the road, but overall it seems it has been pretty successful. There has been a lot of controversy around the move but tourism is up, business are flocking to El Salvador, and many more positive things outweigh some of the loud negative voices. My goal is to get out to El Salvador sometime in the next year, so hopefully I’ll get out there and can meet a bunch of Bitcoiners IRL. I’ll document that experience and let you all know how it is!
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A quick look on chain:
Current price: $16,605
Market Cap: $319.6B
Spent Output Profit Ratio: 0.9898
Current block height: 769630
Mean block interval: 9min. 45sec.
Meme of the Week
What would the BTC community do without memes? Every week on State of Bitcoin, we feature our favorite meme of the previous week. If you create or see a meme that you like and want us to consider featuring it, tag us on Twitter or instagram (both @Greencandleit)! This week we’re featuring a meme I came across from my friend @publordhodl:
Video Version!
For our complete rip, check us out on the pod:
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Happy Friday everyone - get after it this weekend!
Brandon
Disclosure: The authors of this writing hold positions in cryptocurrency mentioned in this article. That cryptocurrency is Bitcoin. The article was written by Brandon Keys and occasionally a guest writer; it expresses the author's own opinions. They are not receiving compensation for it. The information presented in this article is for informational purposes only and in no way should be construed as financial advice or recommendation to buy or sell any stock or cryptocurrency. None of the authors of this article are financial advisors. I encourage all readers to do further research and do your own due diligence before making any investments.