People are often using the Bitcoin Dominance chart to make a point about Bitcoin’s relevance and popularity.I believe in most cases where people tend to use it, they’re using it wrong.The DataThere is a lot more money coming in crypto and blockchain startups.As more big companies invest in blockchain related startups you’ll see more speculators jumping on this new “Wild West” market where there are no rules.When we look at the total marketcap of all cryptocurrencies together:When we look at the Bitcoin chart we see the following:It is important to note that without MtGox Bitcoin would’ve never gone that high back in 2013–2014.The AnalysisEvery investor, trader and speculator is looking for the “new Bitcoin”.Bitcoin had incredible returns and now that it reached a (relatively) “large” marketcap the odds that it’ll go x10 from here in a year are quite small.That’s why new money is, partially, investing in altcoins and diversifying: they don’t want to miss out again.

The chances of an altcoin going x10 in a very short period of time is a lot higher.Just take Dash as an example:Lets start with the basics: when a coin has a marketcap of $1 billion, that doesn’t mean that $1 billion was actually invested in it.How much money is needed to pump a coin a certain amount depends on a lot of different things:Current marketcapDistribution: how big percentage of total coins do the people who want to pump it have?Unavailable coins (locked/lost): If we take Dash as an example: a large percentage of the coins are locked in masternodes, which means they will not be dumped on the market when someone wants to pump it.For Bitcoin we have the Satoshi coins which never move, for Ethereum we have for example the 25% of coins from presale that have never been accessed.Investors: investors tend to hold coins for a very long time and they will not easily sell their coins, making it easier for pumpers.Ethereum for example has a lot of these investors that hold their coins.Media/”famous” investors/shills: Even though I don’t consider Ethereum a legit crypto project for obvious reasons, they do have a hard working propaganda machine with Consensys.

For Dash you had Roger Ver shilling it multiple times:Lets try with an example:Marketcap: $44 mil, daily volume: $2.3 mil, up: 30.87%.That means the day before the marketcap was $33.66 mil.Even assuming there are no sells and they are all buys with $2.3 mil volume they increased the marketcap with $11 mil.If the market is older, bigger and more mature, like Bitcoin, it becomes a lot more difficult to simply pump the price.bitcoin esquireThis makes it more stable (read: boring for speculators).Lets take a look again at the Bitcoin numbers:1st of December:Bitcoin Marketcap: $ 12 billionTotal Combined Altcoin Marketcap: $ 2 billion14th of April:Bitcoin Marketcap: $ 19 billionTotal Combined Altcoin Marketcap: $ 9.1 billionGiven the following facts:Bitmain and Roger Ver are blocking Segwit progressETF was denied causing a bit of panic (but price surprisingly recovering fast)A lot of Bitcoin fud articles and articles praising altcoinsAltcoins are currently in a bubble waiting for Bitcoin to make a moveI really don’t see any issue for Bitcoin.Conclusion:While people don’t like the uncertainty created by Bitmain and Roger Ver, which may have resulted in some people hedging positions in alts, I don’t really see any reason to panic.oxid eshop bitcoin

The “flippening” might be a cool word but it’s a very unlikely scenario.Altcoin bubbles happen roughly once per year.The fact that the Bitcoin Dominance percentage is getting lower, is a natural phenomenon thanks to the growth of the industry, the money invested in it, the attention it gets from the media and the potential opportunities for speculators.When you consider the numbers I mentioned above: both Bitcoin and all altcoins combined grew by almost $7 billion in 4.5 months and that in the middle of an altcoin bubble.Bitcoin is still growing at a very fast rate.bitcoin evoluzioneIt is still the most popular coin, it has the most money invested in it and it’s the most secure one.Don’t let people use this as an indicator to instill fear while it’s actually an indicator that shows that the industry is growing at a very fast rate.PS: If you enjoyed reading this feel free to donate something at 1FMy1kpeCY7BESwUaVcM5XAy1bmaWJaXKv.

With the previous donations my wife was able to buy toys for 7 children in an orphanage for Christmas.Everything is greatly appreciated, but I don’t do it for the money.Sometimes I get asked by people how they can donate :).The guilty verdict in the trial of Ross Ulbricht, the kingpin behind the online drug bazaar Silk Road.His attorney took a stunningly odd approach to his defense: Yes, Ulbricht ran the site.Yes, those millions of dollars in bitcoins are his.But he stopped running Silk Road a long time ago.Here's why that logic didn't work: Federal prosecutors showed that millions of dollars in Bitcoin payments were traced from Silk Road back to Ulbricht's personal laptop -- until just before his arrest.How was that possible?Here's a mini crash course in Bitcoin.Bitcoin is all about electronic wallets that send digital cash directly to one another.All you need is a Bitcoin wallet address.You never need to know someone's real name.And at the center of it all is the engine that keeps the system alive: a public record of all transactions called "the blockchain."

It seems anonymous at first -- but only if you keep your wallet address secret.If that's connected to your name, the whole world knows every transaction you've ever made.That's why Bitcoin's notoriety as the tech-savvy criminal's currency of choice is absolute lunacy.Some Bitcoin users have even taken to calling them "prosecution futures."In Ulbricht's case, it all came down to what happened in a New York federal court on January 29.That was the day jurors heard testimony from Ilhwan Yum, the FBI agent who examined the Silk Road website's computer servers in Iceland and Ulbricht's confiscated laptop.He cross-referenced Bitcoin wallet addresses found in each computer to the blockchain itself -- and voilà.From September 2012 until August 2013, Ulbricht's personal laptop received 3,760 transactions from the Silk Road worth 700,254 bitcoins, the FBI agent said.That means Ulbricht had received the equivalent of $18 million over that time."I didn't do any complicated analysis," Yum said in court, noting that the publicly available blockchain records made it even easier to figure out than if a criminal had used a legitimate bank.

At least that takes a subpoena.The numbers also showed that 89% of the bitcoins that made it to Ulbricht's laptop came straight from the online black market.That didn't jibe with his defense attorney's story that they all came from his Bitcoin trading.Ulbricht's lawyer, Joshua Dratel, protested that he was blindsided by this in-depth FBI analysis of Bitcoin wallets and transfers.But it was too late.He should have known, U.S.District Judge Katherine Forrest said.Outside security researchers, like Stanford's Nicholas Weaver, had already determined that a sizable portion of Ulbricht's Bitcoin stash came from Silk Road.As computer scientist Sarah Meiklejohn warned last year, "Every Bitcoin is by nature a marked bill.All that's required is putting together some pieces."That's why Ulbricht's trial is so curious.It's among the first times that truly electronic money played a major role in determining someone's role in a crime.The jury found Ulbricht guilty on all seven counts related to money laundering, hacking, trafficking forged identities and distributing narcotics.