Everything about Bitcoin in 2014 is in this report

Overall, 2014 can be described as a “Tale of Two Cities” for the Bitcoin community.

On the one hand, venture capital in Bitcoin continues to grow significantly, and major brands like Microsoft and Dell support Bitcoin payments, further expanding the acceptance of Bitcoin.

On the other hand, the collapse of Mt. Gox in February 2014 caused a severe drop in the price of Bitcoin, from a peak of $951.39 to $309.87, a drop of 67%. After entering 2015, its price fell by another 18%.

In 2014, the exchange and transaction volume of Bitcoin continued to increase

Whether measured in Bitcoin or US dollars, the total Bitcoin transaction volume in the past year has increased by more than 50% compared to 2013. Bitcoin may be the worst performing currency in the past year, but it is precisely because of its greatest volatility that it provides speculators with a lot of opportunities.

Bitcoin startups have received more than $400 million in venture funding to date

In the fourth quarter of 2014, Bitcoin companies received a record $130 million in venture capital, double the $64 million in the third quarter.

From 2012 to date, a total of $433 million in venture capital has been invested in Bitcoin companies, of which 77% ($335 million) was invested in 2014.

The publicly disclosed Bitcoin venture capital in 2014 was three times that of 2013. And the amount of venture capital in 2014 has exceeded the early investment in the Internet .

The number of countries receiving venture capital increased from 8 in 2013 to 18 in 2014, with the new countries including: Japan, the Netherlands, Panama, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, Germany, India, Mexico, and Argentina.

CoinDesk interviewed senior figures in the Bitcoin field such as Gil Luria, David Yermack, Izabella Kaminska, Jon Matonis, etc. 83% of them believe that the total amount of Bitcoin venture capital in 2015 will exceed that in 2014.

Compared to 2013, venture capital increased its investment in trading platforms, payment processing, mining, financial services and wallets in 2014.

Rapid development of emerging markets

Most regions received more VC funding in the fourth quarter than in the third quarter, with the U.S. and Canada still dominating but losing share.

Overall U.S. Bitcoin venture capital fell 11% in the fourth quarter, but was still much higher than other countries.

Silicon Valley Bitcoin companies still have a huge impact on the global market, owning 18% of the world's Bitcoin companies and receiving 27% of Bitcoin investments.

These companies focus on Bitcoin wallets, trading platforms, payment processing, mining, financial services and general categories.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, Bitcoin wallets were the most popular investment target, followed by financial services, mining, payment processing, and general and trading platforms unfortunately ranked last.

Microsoft and Dell are now two of the largest retailers accepting Bitcoin payments.

CoinDesk predicts that by the end of 2015, the number of merchants accepting Bitcoin payments will exceed 140,000, but data shows that the growth rate has begun to slow down since the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, about 1.4 million new Bitcoin wallets were created, with a quarterly growth rate of 21%. CoinDesk predicts that there will be 12 million Bitcoin wallets by the end of 2015.

There are now more than 320 Bitcoin ATMs located in various regions around the world, most of which are located in the United States and Europe.

CoinDesk predicts that there will be 750 Bitcoin ATMs worldwide by the end of 2015.

Lamassu is currently the world's largest provider of Bitcoin ATMs, producing more than a third of all machines. Half of all Bitcoin ATMs are located in shops, restaurants and cafes.

In the fourth quarter, the difficulty of Bitcoin mining fell for the first time in two years .

The GHash mining pool continues to shrink, and there is still no effective solution to the risk of 51% attack.

Security is a key concern for Bitcoin companies, and related companies are actively seeking cooperation on this issue.

Among them, BitGo, Bitpay, Coinbase, Circle and other companies use multisig security technology, and more than 5% of Bitcoin is protected by this technology, while at the beginning of 2014 this figure was only 0.02%.

Scholars have published more than 250 research papers on Bitcoin, covering all aspects of Bitcoin.

International remittances are considered one of the most popular bitcoin applications, according to a CoinDesk survey, with data showing that the sub-Saharan region has a large share.

At the same time, Africa is the region with the least stringent regulation for Bitcoin, but few Bitcoin companies are headquartered in Africa.

More information can be found here.

[This article is translated from: coindesk.com]

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