Certain Key Metrics Suggest 2018 Was The Best Year For Bitcoin, Says Jameson Lopp

2018 was not a great year for a lot of people in the crypto industry as the markets remained sluggish. But according to Jameson Lopp, Bitcoin has achieved enough in the past year that it can be termed as the best year for the leading crypto coin.

It all depends on the metrics one focuses on

James Lopp, a crypto industry figure, self-proclaimed professional cypherpunk and founder and creator of satoshi.info and bitcoinsig.com, took onto his medium to explain the various metrics that Bitcoin had excelled in last year.  He also used his Twitter account to put forward that few may call 2018 as the worst year for Bitcoin while others may call it the best year depending on the metrics they looked at.

2018 was the worst year for Bitcoin.
2018 was the best year for Bitcoin.
Bring on 2019!https://t.co/Hhzye5BObL

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) January 1, 2019

According to Lopp, over the years, the number of obituaries for Bitcoin was on the rise but unfortunately, this modern form of “money” just refused to die.

Bitcoin obituaries proclaimed per year:
2010: 1
2011: 6
2012: 1
2013: 15
2014: 29
2015: 39
2016: 28
2017: 125
2018: 90https://t.co/ERqWe9S6Vi

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) December 20, 2018

According to Lopp, there are metrics that clearly show Bitcoin is healthy and hearty and its growth was impeccable in 2018. Be it awareness or education, Bitcoin was able enough to attract a lot of eyeballs. For people who only consider price as the factor for growth, then bitcoin has disappointed but other than that, bitcoin has done wonders.

• The relative interest on bitcoin is shifting from developed to developing countries thereby igniting a pavement for new people trying to understand the know-how of the currency. One of Lopp’s tweets shows the google trends for bitcoin search have shifted from Australia and Singapore in 2017 to Ghana and Nigeria in 2018

Countries with the most relative interest in searching for Bitcoin in 2018. Ghana and Nigeria have replaced Australia and Singapore since 2017. https://t.co/Wgrqev6fP7 pic.twitter.com/t9nHYRmkil

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) December 20, 2018

• Lopp also puts forward one of his other tweet which shows the rate of new subscribers to the /r/bitcoin subreddit slowed considerably after the drop in the exchange rate, but on the other hand, it still grew in size by 380,000 users – a 61% growth in 2018.

The rate of new subscribers to the /r/bitcoin subreddit slowed considerably after the exchange rate dropped, but it still grew in size by 380,000 users – 61% growth in 2018. pic.twitter.com/2UdYlw0Y9N

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) December 28, 2018

• Apart from awareness and interest, the percentage of bitcoin transactions spending Segregated Witness inputs also rose from 10% to 40% in 2018

The percentage of bitcoin transactions spending Segregated Witness inputs rose from 10% to 40% in 2018. pic.twitter.com/wGiFZsFga5

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) December 21, 2018

• Not just as a cryptocurrency, Bitcoin also showed tremendous growth as a trust anchor. The number of outputs that embedded data into the blockchain increased significantly in 2018.
• In 2018, Bitcoin hashrate too grew at 2x despite the massive exchange rate decline that forced many miners to go offline due to unprofitability.

Despite the massive exchange rate decline that forced many miners offline due to unprofitability, Bitcoin's hashrate doubled during 2018 from 19 to 38 exahashes per second. pic.twitter.com/yW2qjvz97D

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) December 22, 2018

While these are few factors that show Bitcoin has done tremendously well, Lopp also discussed a few factors that were not so great for Bitcoin. Now it is up to the people to see whether the glass is half full or half empty.

Will people see the real growth in bitcoin and keep HODLing it? Do let us know your views on the same.