Bah Humbug: The Biggest Lumps of Crypto Coal in 2018
December 23, 2018 by William Peaster
The cryptoeconomy saw its share of downs, drama, and general naughtiness in 2018. Lest we forget, let’s take a look back at the biggest lumps of crypto coal on the year.
Also read: ConsenSys to Shrink With Ether Price, Lubin Remains Upbeat
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1) The TRON Whitepaper Plagiarism Scandal
This past January, the English version of the TRON (TRX) whitepaper was blasted over numerous apparent plagiarisms from peer projects.
Wow! Absurd! TRON’s “paper” is mostly copied from other projects, or is super basic p2p passed off as original. Zero references.
Archived that PDF in IPFS, in case they take it down: https://t.co/jv7EuSYenL pic.twitter.com/GbiL7MUrnc
— Juan Benet (@juanbenet) January 7, 2018
“We can provide you with the latest Chinese version of the whitepaper and hope we can learn from your advice,” TRON founder Justin Sun reasoned at the time.
“Again, from the beginning, we don’t expect numerous languages versions to keep update. After our SF office opens we will have a better English version of everything soon!”
Our verdict? Naughty.
2) The NEM Coincheck Hack
Another early blight to start the cryptoeconomy’s year was the hacking of Japanese exchange Coincheck’s NEM (XEM) hot wallet.
The hack was massive in scope. The attacker or attackers made off with a huge trove of 520 million XEM, which was then worth around $530 million USD.
The episode once more highlighted the risks associated with 1) keeping your crypto on an exchange, and 2) hot wallets in general.
To their credit, Coincheck has since strived to make affected users whole. But the exchange’s allowance of the breach in the first place was an egregious mistake that can’t be overlooked.
3) The Steady Stream of Selloffs
For many hodlers this year, a bitter pill to swallow was bitcoin settling into its second-longest correction to date.
While there was plenty of sideways chop in 2018, bitcoin’s current correction has been sustained by a handful of sharp selloffs over the past dozen months.
For example, in February bitcoin slid beneath $7,000 for the first time this year in what was then the genesis cryptocurrency’s fourth-largest selloff ever. Another $100 billion left the cryptoeconomy one month later.
More turns for the worse came this fall when BTC fell below $4,000 for a time. Now, hodlers are hoping the next year is a better one for bitcoin.
4) Nouriel Roubini Derides Crypto to Congress
Dr. Nouriel Roubini, an economics professor and early predictor of the last financial crisis, established himself as the most biting skeptic of the cryptoeconomy in 2018.
That positioning was capped off by an appearance as an expert witness opposite Coin Center’s research director Peter Van Valkenburgh before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs in October.
Dr. Roubini’s testimony whipped up a frenzy in the cryptoverse, insofar as he lambasted Bitcoin, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies in general to the powerful congressional committee.
“No one uses bitcoin but criminals and terrorists,” Dr. Roubini told the Senate.
Our verdict? Impish.
5) The Bitcoin Cash Hash War
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) — itself a high-profile, contentious fork of Bitcoin (BTC) — underwent its own contentious fork this fall, which spawned Bitcoin SV (BSV).
The split occurred after Bitcoin SV’s backers, namely CoinGeek and nChain, disagreed with the technical vision that was being plotted for BCH by Bitcoin ABC, the development team behind the most popular Bitcoin Cash client to date.
That disagreement led to a “Hash War” that wasn’t much of a war at all, as Bitcoin SV miners failed to overtake other BCH miners in their attempt to dominate the chain.
Now, the BCH price is hovering at likely half of what it would be if no split had occurred. Accordingly, the Bitcoin Cash community will hope that the new year’s beginning will be better than the last year’s ending.
What’s your take? What “Bah Humbug” crypto moments did we miss that you’d personally put in your top five? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images via CNBC Television, The Japan Times, Pixabay
