While 2021 did provide some sort of respite for investors operating across the global crypto landscape, it was still largely been driven by fears t
While 2021 did provide some sort of respite for investors operating across the global crypto landscape, it was still largely been driven by fears that first reared their ugly heads back in 2020. From rising inflation rates to another wave of coronavirus-related outbreaks, the ground beneath everyone’s feet continued to move even without them knowing.
For example, while everyone assumed that Bitcoin (BTC) would hit a price target of $100,000 quite easily — including many traditional financial institutions — by the turn of the new year, the flagship crypto continued to showcase a high degree of volatility despite having touched an all-time high of $69,000 earlier in November, and essentially just moved in a broad sideways channel for the past ten months.
That said, there have been a lot of developments — mostly positive but some negative as well — surrounding Bitcoin this year. In this piece, we will look to explore many of these themes and much more. So, without any further ado, let’s get straight into the heart of the matter.
Adoption gains momentum as El Salvador leads the roost
Known as the “Land of Volcanoes,” the Central American nation of El Salvador shocked everyone in 2021 by becoming the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, potentially paving the way for other countries to follow suit, especially those being faced with issues related to rampant inflation — looking at you, Turkey, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
I’ve just sent the #BitcoinLaw to Congress pic.twitter.com/DljnxsXlyt
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) June 9, 2021
And, even though the move hadn’t quite converted El Salvadorans into overnight BTC proponents, President Nayib Bukele has been quite strategic in his approach when it comes to overhauling his country’s economic woes. Citizens were given access to a Chivo crypto wallet while he has also vowed to address the internet connectivity issues that currently plague the country.
Lastly, El Salvador’s highly touted “Bitcoin Bond” — which makes use of a federated BTC sidechain to issue a legally viable monetary bond — is being viewed by many as an attractive money-making avenue since it offers users with a novel means of investing in the currency as well as providing them with a chance to obtain the county’s citizenship.
Bitcoin transactions garner momentum
The Lightning Network (LN) showcased a tremendous amount of growth over the course of 2021 with a growing amount of funds being poured into various LN channels — especially with more nodes popping up online, seemingly with each passing day.
Statistically speaking, there is more than 3,300 BTC locked across various public Lightning channels, at the time of writing, with more funds likely contained within other private/unannounced channel networks that are currently being operated between various exchanges.
In terms of improvements, the infrastructure of the Lightning Network underwent a number of major overhauls this past year (such as Amboss), improving the systems’ native node administrative capacity as well as retail customer UX for Lightning wallets. Looking ahead, LN’s BOLT-12 module promises to make recurring payments easier as well as enable other useful features such as donations via static QR codes.
Taproot makes its long-awaited debut
One of the biggest breakthroughs for the Bitcoin network since the SegWit overhaul of 2017 — a process by which the block size limit on asset’s blockchain was increased by removing signature data from transactions included in each block — was the activation of the Taproot upgrade.
Taproot is basically designed to help the flagship cryptocurrency’s community of backers and core developers gain access to better a “policy privacy” framework, allowing them to not reveal all of the possible ways through which they could potentially spend their BTC.
Bitcoin Node Taproot Support: 63.49%
Node count:
Taproot: 31329
Non-enforcing: 17122
Light: 33
Unknown: 863 pic.twitter.com/svgeSmRKxM— Taproot Signal (@taproot_signal) January 1, 2022
To be a bit more technical, the update enhances the efficacy of certain multisignature setups all while making individual transactions on the Lightning Network more secure and privacy-oriented.
That being said, in order for these advantages to truly see the light of day, a little more work may be needed, particularly on the MuSig2 — a simple and highly practical two-round multisignature scheme that makes transaction facilitation hassle-free for Bitcoiners — front as well as in relation to certain technical niches associated with Lightning Network-based client implementations and improved hardware wallet support functionality (meant solely for Taproot).
Mining disruption caused by China
A piece of news that had Bitcoiners, as well as crypto enthusiasts in general, a little shook this past calendar year was when China imposed an unequivocal blanket ban on its local crypto economy.
Even though the eastern powerhouse has issued…
cointelegraph.com