5 pictures to show you the development of Bitcoin

Although Bitcoin in 2015 did not have the unprecedented excitement of 2013, it is still slowly but steadily growing under the media's attention. Last week, the price of Bitcoin rose to its highest level in 2015, which seems to reflect the market's confidence in Bitcoin's rebound. The following five charts show us the development of Bitcoin.

1. Bitcoin price reaches 2015 high

At the beginning of 2015, one bitcoin was worth about $320, but it gradually began to decline until last week when it recovered to its early-year price. Last Friday, the price of a bitcoin rose to more than $330, and the current price is $310.

Of course, the current price is still far from Bitcoin's all-time high: one Bitcoin was worth more than $1,000 in late 2013, but by 2014, the price had fallen 60%. However, the boom in the past few weeks shows that the pessimism that has permeated the market for months has gradually subsided, and Bitcoin investors have become relatively optimistic.

2. People are using the Bitcoin network to conduct more transactions than ever before

The best way to estimate Bitcoin's long-term growth is not through its price, but through the number of transactions in the Bitcoin network, because prices are greatly affected by speculators and media hype. For a long time, the growth of Bitcoin transactions has reflected the fact that people are finding the Bitcoin network more and more useful. And this year we have seen a steady, although not spectacular, increase in the number of transactions in the Bitcoin network.

While this growing transaction volume is a healthy sign for Bitcoin, it also presents a potential problem because there is currently an artificial limit on the total number of transactions that the Bitcoin network can process. The Bitcoin network will reach this limit in a few years, so changes to the Bitcoin Core software will be required, but the Bitcoin community has not yet reached an agreement on this issue.

3. VCs continue to invest in the Bitcoin industry

Unit: Million

Although Bitcoin has not received as much media attention this year as it did in 2013, Bitcoin startups are still very attractive to venture capital firms. So far, the investment in the Bitcoin industry has reached $46.8 billion, which is higher than the investment in the same period last year. Although Bitcoin has not yet entered the mainstream market, many investors are optimistic about its future.

4. Bitcoin is becoming more international

The above chart shows the business development of Bitcoin startup BitPay in various regions around the world. BitPay is a company that provides Bitcoin payment services to merchants. BitPay is headquartered in the United States, so its business is mainly oriented to the United States. However, BitPay's business development direction has changed recently. As can be seen from the chart, in the first half of 2015, BitPay's business growth in Europe exceeded that in the United States, and it is in a leading position. Latin America has also seen rapid growth.

This change may reflect that the United States is not optimistic about Bitcoin. The biggest feature of Bitcoin technology is that it can be used as a global standard, allowing people in different regions of the world to communicate without barriers. The United States is a single integrated market, and people tend to use the same payment method.

But BitPay said, "Although Europe has a unified currency, the euro, Europe's traditional payment system is still very localized." The same is true in Latin America, where people are accustomed to using many different payment methods, so it is easier to add Bitcoin payment methods in these regions.

5. Bitcoin ATMs are growing

A Bitcoin ATM is similar to a traditional ATM. It allows people to exchange US dollars (or other currencies) for Bitcoin. Some Bitcoin ATMs allow two-way transactions, that is, not only allowing people to exchange fiat currency for Bitcoin, but also allowing people to exchange Bitcoin for fiat currency.

Bitcoin ATMs are a key infrastructure in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Because it makes it more convenient for people to buy Bitcoin, people don't need to spend time understanding what Bitcoin is. And it also provides people with an alternative to traditional remittance services (such as Western Union): people can deposit cash into a Bitcoin ATM in New York, send Bitcoin to family or friends in Argentina or Thailand, and then his family or friends can exchange the received Bitcoin for local currency at the local Bitcoin ATM.

However, the current cost of using Bitcoin ATMs is still too high, making it difficult to popularize them. The handling fee for each transaction on a Bitcoin ATM is about 5% of the total transaction amount, so if they are used as the infrastructure for Bitcoin transactions, the fee is about 10%, which is higher than the traditional currency transaction service platform. Therefore, if you want to popularize Bitcoin ATMs, you must reduce these fees.

Original article: http://www.vox.com/technology/2015/10/31/9651168/bitcoin-growing
By Timothy B. Lee
Translator: printemps
Editor: printemps
Source (Translator): Babbitt Information