BITCOIN 2014: BITCOIN’S MOST TRYING YEAR COMES TO A CLOSE

LONDON (InsideBitcoins) – 2014 was not generally kind to the price of bitcoin. October saw the continuation of virtual currency’s rollercoaster ride through disconcerting levels of volatility, with prices peaking at $440 but dropping back down to $330 by the month’s end.
The innovative protocol that serves as the foundation for the technology, the blockchain, took another step towards the realisation of its full potential with the release of a highly anticipated white paper on ‘side chains.’
The draft legislation that Russia announced in August was revealed in all its glory, promising fines of up to $25,000 for anyone even so much as disseminating information about how to obtain or even use the currency. Whilst Russia was effectively promising to kill the currency within its territory, a world away, Bill Gates was waxing lyrical about the virtues and potential of bitcoin.
Bitcoin met art with the online release of the bitcoin documentary ‘The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin’ providing an opportunity for the uninitiated to take a ‘crash course in cyrptocurrency’ from the comfort of their living room.

This post was published at Inside Bitcoins on Dec 31, 2014.