Losing Streak / Mining Difficulty / Altcoin Death / UFC

Subscribe | View in browser 1. Bitcoin has recorded losses each of the past five months, its longest streak since 2011. At that time, bitcoin traded below $20 per coin. It had seen an 81 percent dive over the five months ending in November of that year. The tide, though, did finally turn. Bitcoin gained 59 percent in December of 2011, spurring several months of substantial growth. The coin would reach $900 in November of 2013. –COINDESK       2. The bitcoin network recently increased the difficulty of mining coins by 10 percent. The difficulty increase comes after five consecutive difficulty decreases between July and December of last year. The decreases were in direct response to reports that miners abandoned the network amid dropping prices. The drop in difficulty also coincided with the drop in bitcoin's hash rate, which made a U-turn in mid-December. There is hope in the community that these changes could spark another breakout for the coin. –BITCOINIST       3. Bitcoin "died" 90 times in 2018, according to data from 99bitcoins. The site's Bitcoin Obituaries section tracked claims of bitcoin's demise throughout 2018 as the coin dropped from nearly $20,000 per coin to just about $3,000. Bitcoin, though, did not have it the worst. The site Dead Coins noted more than 1,000 altcoins that disappeared from the market altogether. These coins disappeared because of hacks, scams, or just a simple lack of interest. –COIN TELEGRAPH       4. The Litecoin Foundation has gotten into the fight game. The organization sponsored the recent Ultimate Fighting Championship title fight between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, which headlined UFC 232. It is the first time a cryptocurrency has sponsored a UFC fight. The foundation was able to place its logo on the edge of the canvas where the two fighters squared off. Charlie Lee, litecoin's foundation, hoped the sponsorship could attract the attention of spectators who had never heard of cryptocurrencies, including litecoin. –CRYPTOVEST       5. A recent survey shows growing interest in bitcoin in China, sparking some to believe the world's largest country could fuel the next price surge. –FORBES 6. Bitcoinist praises Bluewallet's mobile bitcoin wallet in this product review. –BITCOINIST 7. Motivational speaker Tony Robbins has written an article explaining bitcoin to his more than 3 million Twitter followers. –TONYROBBINS.COM 8. Blockchain continues to get used more and more in Islamic finance. –GULF-TIMES 9. A writer argues that cryptocurrency can serve as a "gateway drug" to investing for Millennials. –THE TELEGRAPH 10. Litecoin had a really bad year when it was all said and done – down 92 percent. –FX STREET       Written and curated by David Stegon. He has been a reporter for 15 years, the past 10 focused on technology. Follow him @davidstegon. Editing team: Lon Harris (editor-in-chief at Inside.com, game-master at Screen Junkies), Krystle Vermes (Breaking news editor at Inside, B2B marketing news reporter, host of the "All Day Paranormal" podcast), and Susmita Baral (editor at Inside, recent bylines in NatGeo, Teen Vogue, and Quartz. Runs the biggest mac and cheese account on Instagram).       Owl Labs is the creator of the Meeting Owl, the first 360-degree smart conference camera. Learn more.

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