{"id":177,"date":"2014-07-13T12:07:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-13T12:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.holytransaction.com\/the-bitcoin-landscape-is-evolving-2014\/"},"modified":"2020-11-22T04:09:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-22T02:09:17","slug":"the-bitcoin-landscape-is-evolving-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/the-bitcoin-landscape-is-evolving-2014.html","title":{"rendered":"How the Bitcoin landscape is evolving in 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"
The bitcoin landscape is evolving\u00a0so rapidly that it\u2019s hard to believe we\u2019re already halfway through the year.<\/b><\/i><\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n

(CoinDesk<\/a>)\u00a0Like any new industry, there are so many areas to explore in the bitcoin<\/a> space that sometimes make\u00a0a week\u2019s worth of developmentsit feel like a month or two have gone by.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Bitcoin has\u00a0certainly seen a lot of action in 2014. The\u00a0collapse of Mt. Gox<\/a>, hefty\u00a0venture capital investments<\/a>\u00a0in bitcoin startups and the\u00a0US\u00a0government auction<\/a>\u00a0of 30,000 bitcoins seized from the Silk Road all generated buzz in the mainstream media.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
CoinDesk\u2019s recent\u00a0State of Bitcoin Q2 2014 report<\/a>\u00a0highlights some of the key developments that have influenced bitcoin\u2019s journey over the past few months, providing context for the digital currency\u2019s ever-changing position in society.<\/div>\n
While only time will tell what\u2019s in store for bitcoin\u2019s future, a number of trends have emerged in the industry this year that could shape the direction and velocity of bitcoin\u2019s growth.<\/div>\n
Here are five bitcoin trends that have emerged in the first half of 2014:<\/div>\n

1. Big-name retailers jumping on board<\/p>\n

The year started with a bang when Overstock became the\u00a0first major retailer<\/a>\u00a0to accept bitcoin. News of Overstock\u2019s success with the digital currency served as a signal for other large companies to follow suit.<\/div>\n
Electronics retailer TigerDirect\u00a0integrated bitcoin<\/a>\u00a0as a payment option by the end of January, and other household names like the Sacremento Kings, Lord & Taylor and\u00a0REEDS Jewelers<\/a>\u00a0got on board soon after.<\/div>\n
By the end of June, three companies with at least $2b in annual revenue had begun accepting bitcoin:\u00a0DISH<\/a>,\u00a0Expedia<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Newegg<\/a>.<\/div>\n
With smaller businesses also continuing to accept bitcoin at a fervent pace, we estimate that around 100,000 merchants will accept bitcoin by the end of 2014:<\/div>\n

State of Bitcoin Q2 2014<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

2. A warming regulatory climate<\/p>\n

While it certainly hasn\u2019t been all smooth sailing between\u00a0governments and bitcoin this year, it seems like tides are changing and regulators around the world are starting to take a more open-minded approach to the digital currency.<\/div>\n
In the beginning of 2014, China\u2019s stance on bitcoin was\u00a0ambiguous at best<\/a>. By April, China\u2019s Central Bank Governor said that banning bitcoin was \u201cout of the question,<\/a>\u201d referring to it as more of\u00a0an asset than a currency.<\/div>\n
Russia, after releasing\u00a0stern warnings<\/a>\u00a0about bitcoin early this year, recently reconsidered its stance on the digital currency.<\/div>\n
Gerogy Luntovsky, the deputy chairman of Bank of Russia, explained that his agency is going to take time to examine bitcoin as the industry continues to evolve:<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cAt this stage, we need to watch how the situation develops with these kinds of currencies. These instruments should not be rejected.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Progress has also been made in places like California, where Governor Jerry Brown has granted bitcoin\u00a0\u2018legal money\u2019 status<\/a>, and\u00a0Switzerland<\/a>, where similar \u2018legal money\u2019 regulations are being considered.<\/div>\n
Regulators seem increasingly willing to hold off on impulsive legislation in favor of working with the bitcoin community to find the best resolutions to prevent money laundering and fraud without stifling innovation.<\/div>\n

3. VC firms keep betting big<\/p>\n

Not everybody is as slow as governments\u00a0to embrace bitcoin.<\/div>\n
Serious venture capital investments in bitcoin companies were already\u00a0taking place in 2013<\/a>, but VCs have certainly kicked it up this year, with a total of $150m having already been invested in 2014.<\/div>\n
With 2014\u2032s\u00a0Q2\u00a0VC investments reaching $73m (up from $57m in Q1<\/a>), CoinDesk estimates that by the year\u2019s end, 2014 VC investments in bitcoin companies will have surpassed 1995 VC investments in Internet companies:<\/div>\n
\"Bitcoin<\/a><\/div>\n

State of Bitcoin Q2 2014<\/a><\/p>\n

The venture capital flowing into the bitcoin space supports the industry\u2019s infrastructure both explicitly and implicitly: startups gain access to resources that allow them to build much-needed products and services around the Bitcoin protocol, and the investors\u2019 confidence in the digital currency brings legitimacy to bitcoin\u2019s reputation.<\/div>\n

4. Building on the block chain<\/p>\n

Most people who take the time to really learn about bitcoin realize that the true genius in Satoshi Nakamoto\u2019s invention is not the coins themselves, but rather the block chain.<\/div>\n
The term \u2018Bitcoin 2.0\u2032 is often used to describe applications that use the technology of the block chain to address issues like smart contracts and\u00a0identity verification<\/a>\u00a0that were once impossible to solve in a\u00a0decentralized way<\/a>\u00a0on the Internet.<\/div>\n
Jeff Garzik, one of the bitcoin protocol\u2019s core developers,\u00a0described<\/a>\u00a0the significance of the block chain beyond the scope of digital currencies:<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cAs a computer scientist, and in computer science in general, when you talked about building distributed systems, there tended to be a purely theoretical view about how computers would talk to each other, how to keep them coordinated.\u00a0Satoshi and the blockchain really solved that problem in an elegant and unexpected way.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Block chain-focused startups like\u00a0BlockScore<\/a>\u00a0and BlockCypher have already secured funding this year from investors. As 2014 rolls on, expect to see new uses of the block chain technology solving problems in a uniquely decentralized manner.<\/div>\n

5. New emphasis on transparency<\/p>\n

The\u00a0collapse of Mt. Gox<\/a>, once the biggest bitcoin exchange in the market, was a wake-up call to many in the community.<\/div>\n
The former exchange\u2019s CEO\u00a0Mark Karpeles<\/a>\u00a0was notoriously opaque in the months leading to its bankruptcy, causing confusion among users who held bitcoins on Gox.<\/div>\n
Ultimately many people lost BTC through the course of Mt. Gox\u2019s downfall. Outcries from the community started pouring in, demanding other big exchanges prove their solvency with\u00a0professional audits<\/a>.<\/div>\n
Exchanges like\u00a0Bitstamp<\/a>,\u00a0Kraken<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Coinbase\u00a0all agreed to be audited in the aftermath of Mt. Gox\u2019s liquidation.<\/div>\n
The demand for more transparency in the industry doesn\u2019t stop at exchange audits, though. Revered bitcoin evangelist Andreas Antonopoulos recently took to Twitter to announce his departure from the Bitcoin Foundation, citing a lack of transparency as a primary concern:<\/div>\n
\n
I can no longer have even the smallest association with the Bitcoin Foundation, because of the complete lack of transparency<\/div>\n
\u2014 AndreasMAntonopoulos (@aantonop)\u00a0July 9, 2014<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
If the first half of 2014 proves anything, it\u2019s that the technology underlying bitcoin is resilient even under catastrophic circumstances (Mt. Gox), and that the community is willing to rally together in bringing bitcoin to mass adoption.<\/div>\n
There\u2019s a reason people call it the \u201choney badger of money.<\/em>\u201d<\/div>\n

Open your free digital wallet here<\/a> to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The bitcoin landscape is evolving\u00a0so rapidly that it\u2019s hard to believe we\u2019re already halfway through the year. (CoinDesk)\u00a0Like any new industry, there are so many areas to explore in the bitcoin space that sometimes make\u00a0a week\u2019s worth of developmentsit feel like a month or two have gone by. Bitcoin has\u00a0certainly seen a lot of action […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,76,77,82,191],"tags":[764,765,771,871],"yoast_head":"\nHow the Bitcoin landscape is evolving in 2014 -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/holytransaction.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/the-bitcoin-landscape-is-evolving-2014.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How the Bitcoin landscape is evolving in 2014\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The bitcoin landscape is evolving\u00a0so rapidly that it\u2019s hard to believe we\u2019re already halfway through the year. 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