Image of The Day, 17 of December: Forbes, Market Watch, Wired and Others

We're presenting "the image of the day". Bitnewstoday.com has chosen the most important news about the digital economy and virtual currencies. Only the most valuable stories from only the trusted sources. Each and every event from this list will change the world of the digital economy either way. The most important stories of this day in the most indicative quotes are below!

1. THE BULLS ARE ALRIGHT (Forbes)

Bitcoin bulls are still upbeat on year anniversary of all-time high

Bitcoin may not be dead, but it's certainly fallen a long way from the heady highs of late 2017. One year ago today the bitcoin price peaked at a little over $19,000, ending a year of bitcoin and cryptocurrency mania that saw billions of dollars poured into ambitious initial coin offerings (ICOs) and bold predictions that "this time it's different."

Inevitably, the year-long bitcoin party came to a crushing end, leaving those who had piled in nursing painful loses. The bitcoin price has been on a severe downward trend throughout 2018 as investor fears around regulation and institutional investment mount. Bitcoin is down 83% since its all-time high, according to prices from the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange.

Bitcoin bulls and the crypto faithful have managed to remain upbeat in the face of market collapse, promising they have funds to wait out the so-called crypto winter bear market even as many make cuts to keep costs down.

2. $13 BILLION UP (Market Watch)

Bitcoin surges 10% as broad-based rally adds $13 billion to market value of all coins

Cryptocurrency prices surged higher on Monday with most major coins showing double-digit gains in midafternoon trading. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, has traded to a one-week high above $3,500 and a single coin was last changing hands at $3,573.47, up 10.3% since Sunday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the Kraken exchange.

Stephen Innes, head of Asia Pacific trading at Oanda said he sees further downside for crypto prices, because the asset remains hard to value. “Looking at the hand that is dealt, we should expect crypto markets to trade lower until ultimately investors can justify and determine valuations. But even from a cross-asset play with global markets veering south the fact investors can’t pin an intrinsic value on BTC, in my view makes it even less appealing,” he wrote.

3. PUTTING HISTORY ON BLOCKCHAIN (Wired)

BitPesa is putting ancient payment systems on the blockchain

The financial services industry used to exist according to a truism: customers were more likely to get a divorce than change their bank. Today, though, a number of fintech startups are beginning to change that. It’s not just retail banking that’s going through a transformation. Even arcane and highly technical financial services such as international money transfers are now being disrupted. Take BitPesa, a blockchain payments company based in Kenya, which uses the cryptocurrency bitcoin to provide international money transfers across Africa, Europe and Asia.

“We’ve digitised a model which already existed,” says the founder, Elizabeth Rossiello. BitPesa is revolutionising ancient but also highly opaque payment systems such as bokeh in Nigeria and hawala in Malawi, which were often seen as enabling money laundering and even terrorist finance.

4. THE RALLY (Reuters)

Bitcoin climbs above $3,400, headed for biggest daily rise in nearly three weeks

Bitcoin rose sharply on Monday, climbing above $3,400 in a move traders ascribed to heavy buying on Japan and Hong Kong-based exchanges.

The original cryptocurrency jumped as much as 11 percent on the Bitstamp platform and was headed for its biggest daily rise since Nov. 28. Bitcoin has fallen around 80 percent from its record high last December. In the last three months it has fallen nearly 50 percent.

5. THE PROPHECY (The Daily Hodl)

BitPay CEO predicts global adoption of bitcoin and crypto

BitPay CEO Stephen Pair says he thinks Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are on an increasingly fast track to mass adoption. In a new interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Pair says he’s shortened his timeline to about three to five years.

“Our thesis at BitPay is that all digital assets, or most digital assets, will be issued on a blockchain. And then most payments will be conducted on a blockchain. And we’re building a platform for that future. So I think you’re really looking somewhere in the three-to-five-year time frame. I used to say 10 years, but now I think it’s more like three to five years until you can go into a restaurant, a retail establishment, and everybody’s going to expect that that store will be able to accept a blockchain payment”

6. EOS TO THE PEOPLE (Business Standard)

Dunya Labs Brings EOS blockchain to India with Catalyst

Dunya Labs a blockchain product company, hosted the inaugural sessions of its Catalyst Series in Bengaluru. Catalyst, a programme of hands-on blockchain developer workshops, was launched in partnership with the Government of Telangana Blockchain District as part of the State's blockchain education efforts.

The aim of the Catalyst Series is to guide technologists in understanding, experimenting with, and developing cutting-edge public blockchain protocols. In India, less than 1% of the country's developers have exposure to blockchain development, and experience is limited to platforms such as Hyperledger and Ethereum. Catalyst aims to bring India to the global blockchain frontier through community participation and developer education. This series is a first-of-its-kind EOS workshop and hackathon, kicking off with a three-weekend-long curriculum covering the EOS protocol architectural design, developer tooling/environments, and smart contract and dApp (decentralized application) development. Hundreds of applicants sought the opportunity to attend the workshops, which featured sessions by international blockchain experts across Ukraine, China, Korea and the United States.

7. DOWN BY THE LAW! (The Next Web)

A self-styled Robin Hood of cryptocurrency gets done by the sheriff!

A notorious Chinese cryptocurrency figure has been arrested after throwing stacks of HK $100 ($12) bills from the rooftop of a building in one of Hong Kong’s poorest districts. Self-styled Bitcoin millionaire Wong Ching-Kit announced the bizarre stunt via Facebook. In the post, he declared money would soon be “falling from the sky.”

Sure enough, Wong proceeded to rain cash on Kowloon streets on Saturday, causing havoc as citizens reportedly became frenzied in the rush to collect as many free bills as possible.

It’s currently unclear just how much money was thrown, notes South China Morning Post. Police were able to seize HK $6,000 ($770), confirming at least some of the bills to be legitimate. Authorities also haven’t ruled out making more arrests over the incident, with chief inspector Kevin Chong Kiu-wai adding the stunt certainly could have involved more than one person.

8. THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE? (Nasdaq)

Three years ago, China was the Wild West of cryptocurrency

As the blockchain-based digital tokens gained in global popularity, Chinese traders and miners led the way. By the beginning of 2017, 80% of all blockchain currency transactions were conducted in yuan, and a majority of the world’s crypto mining activity took place in mainland China. It was a time of tremendous growth in the cryptocurrency market. According to Coinwatch.com data, crypto’s total market cap rose that year from $16 billion to more than $160 billion in just eight months.

Today, Bitcoin’s (BTC) yuan transactions make up barely 1% of the cryptocurrency’s global volume, and a majority of the mining operations are hosted in Siberia. The Chinese love affair with crypto was supported by the hands-off attitude of the government. The Beijing authorities, for a long time, simply let crypto be, and watched to see how the industry would develop. That worked until the authorities in Beijing decided that they could not abide the existence of an online trading system that persisted outside the channels of official government control and observation.

9. FIXING UP THE ZUCK (Forbes)

How blockchain and data dividends could fix

Facebook As a person of a certain age, Facebook is more meaningful to me than any fish-lips selfie or desire to bring out my inner influencer. It’s a nice way to spend a few moments a day taking an inventory of friends, family and acquaintances and marvel at the joys and sorrows that are the human journey. I know I’m not alone. But I spent the weekend commiserating with my dwindling number of Facebook cohorts who know that they are in abusive relationships with their social media of choice. But while they might live in a bubble, Facebook execs do not live under a rock. Earlier in the year, they announced the formation of a blockchain team reporting to David Marcus, a former PayPal executive. The blockchain, though limited in scalability and speed at the moment, presents a perfect new scaffolding for Facebook to provide ID authentication, proof of origin and ownership. It would allow those who share their IPs, time and personal IDs with Facebook communities to be rewarded, be it in cash, crypto or Facebucks (I get the royalties if they go with "Facebucks." Techonomy can have it if they go with "FaceCoin").

10. OH YOU,TETHER! (FxStreet)

Tether, a crypto supposedly pegged to the US dollar, moves into crypto 4th spot

Tether is extremely controversial. Many doubt if the money is really there. It hasn't been audited, but it's now #4 on the global charts.

Tether is a controversial cryptocurrency with tokens issued by Tether Limited, which claims that each token issued is backed by one United States dollar though they may not necessarily be redeemed through the Tether platform. Tether is called a stablecoin because it is designed to always be worth $1.00. Tether is supposedly pegged to the US dollar, but in practice, it seldom trades there.