During this year we have seen how the most famous cryptocurrency on earth has experienced different situations. Some of them have been positive for the Bitcoin environment and others not so much. But 2017 was full of surprises for the whole cryptocurrency sphere.

Jamie Dimon

We all remember when Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan CEO, commented about Bitcoin.

“The currency isn’t going to work. You can’t have a business where people can invent a currency out of thin air and think that people who are buying it are really smart,” Reuters reported.

But this was not the only occasion that Jamie Dimon expressed himself in such a way about cryptocurrencies. For example, he has also said that Bitcoin will be crushed by governments. According to Mr Dimon, Bitcoin is a ‘fraud’ that will eventually ‘blow up.’

China Ban on Cryptocurrencies

In September, China announced that it was going to ban cryptocurrency exchanges and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) in the country. China was one of the most important countries for the cryptocurrency community. It moved an important amount of bitcoin and several mining farms were (and still are) located there.

When this happened, several media sources confirmed that it was the end of the cryptocurrency as we know it. One of the most important countries in the world was banning it. It didn’t happen. Bitcoin arrived at new highs later and it proved that not a single government can shut it down.

Hard Forks

2017 was also the year of the hard forks. Two main hard forks happened this year. Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold split from the main Bitcoin network. Bitcoin Cash tries to solve the scalability problem that Bitcoin faces and Bitcoin Gold wants to make Bitcoin decentralized again.

Bitcoin Gold claims that there is too much centralization in the Bitcoin mining process. It is not a really decentralized currency. But since Bitcoin Gold appeared in the market, it did not have a good performance. Bitcoin Cash didn’t have a good performance at the beginning and later it has been accused of attacking the bitcoin network.

Conclusion

This year has been a little bit moved for Bitcoin. But overall, this cryptocurrency pushed all the market to new all time highs. It is incredible how Bitcoin could achieve such an incredible growth, from $950 in January up to $20,000 some weeks ago.

Bitcoin has become one of the top 30 cryptocurrencies on earth. It is stronger than many other currencies and countries. Its market capitalization has multiplied several times and in the coming year, experts believe that it will keep growing.