It’s been a great year for cryptocurrency. From Bitcoin breaking its all-time high to the growth of DeFi and the evolution of ETH 2.0, the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem is witnessing impressive growth.
In this piece, we’ll break down the top 10 most viewed crypto articles and examine what caught our readers’ attention this year. Spoiler alert, most of the stories are about Bitcoin (not our number one, though).
#10 – Somebody Just Paid 656 ETH in Fees for a Single Transaction
We’re kicking off this list with a wild one. A user spent 656 ETH, worth ~$82,000 at the time, on a single transaction fee. Initially, Twitter criticized the user for having ‘fat thumbs,’ a euphemism used when a trader mistakenly hits the wrong button and messes up a trade.
As more people began to look into the whoopsie, more theories arose. One such example was the possibility that the user was attempting to launder money or hide funds.
Whatever the real reason, it’s undeniable that this is one of the weirdest Ethereum transactions that we’ve ever seen.
#9 – Let Billionaires and Hedge Funds Get “Wiped Out,” Says Bitcoin Bull
This list continues with a somewhat serious article, one that advocated for the collapse of irresponsible corporations. This article is from mid-April, where the billionaire and early Bitcoin adopter Chamath Palihapitiya vocally opposed the government bailouts of big business.
To the users with a strong understanding of Satoshi Nakomoto, the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator, they’ll see similarities between Palihapitiya and Nakomoto’s thought patterns.
Satoshi created Bitcoin partially as a response to government bailouts and the mismanagement of taxpayers’ funds. In the first Bitcoin block, Satoshi embedded a newspaper article highlighting UK bailouts following the 2008 financial crisis.
#8 – US Govt Pushes Plan to Send Americans Checks Amid Faltering Economy
Pretty much everyone worldwide was drastically affected by the novel coronavirus, a pandemic that caused extremely negative social and economic ramifications.
As a consequence of the unemployment and the struggling economy, President Trump issued an initial stimulus package giving all eligible Americans $1,200 in relief.
Undoubtedly, many crypto enthusiasts who received this check used a portion or all of it to invest in bitcoin, moving value from an inflationary currency to a deflationary one.
#7 – Edward Snowden Buying Bitcoin Because of ‘Too Much Panic, Too Little Reason’
Our seventh most viewed article belongs to Edward Snowden, the American CIA whistleblower who fled to Russia. In the year before this article was published, Snowden tried to publish his book. The US government claimed that it would seize any profits made from the sales.
To Snowden, this was a clear reason for why citizens of the world need a decentralized and independent currency that is out of the control of one government.
In March, when Snowden made this statement, bitcoin was trading around $6,000. If Snowden decided to take his own advice, he’s probably pretty happy with the decision about now.
#6 – New Massive Covid-19 Stimulus Payment Proposed by US Representatives
Following the distribution of the first stimulus packages for citizens and organizations, the US House of Representatives proposed another stimulus bill.
The bill aimed to give Americans monthly checks or rent forgiveness, increasing the last stimulus check.
Many crypto followers spoke of the inflationary pressures this would cause, but the bill was never passed.
#5 – How Bitcoin Would Respond if Trump Ends Student Loan Forgiveness
This article, written in mid-February of 2020, dives into the topic of student loan forgiveness and its effect on financial assets like Bitcoin.
Trump indicated that he was considering shutting down the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The initiative forgave student loans for government or non-profit workers.
The author argues that any movement towards free-market economics, which getting rid of the bill would have promoted, may have a negative effect on Bitcoin.
Since Bitcoin is supposed to be a hedge against inflation and mismanagement by regulatory bodies, leaving decisions to the free market would not necessarily promote Bitcoin.
#4 – What Will Happen to Bitcoin if $1.6 Trillion of Student Loans Are Forgiven
It seems our readers are quite interested in the effects of student loans and deregulation, as this is the second article in the top five on this topic.
Like the previous article, this one breaks down the effects of student loan forgiveness and what it would mean for Bitcoin, something that the Trump administration ended up quashing.
#3 – Coinbase UI Error Mistakenly Displayed 42,000 BTC Sold for $0.18
At the time of this report in early April, some users were furious to find out about this massive Coinbase mistake.
Many users probably flocked to their Coinbase accounts to see if the order for $0.18 was filled. They were likely surprised to see nothing out of the usual.
Although there was a buggy UI display that stated BTC was $0.18, it seems that none of the trades went through. This indicates that it was most likely a small technical error that caused the stir up and not a major underlying problem.
#2 – Bitcoin Will Reach $400,000 After Halving, History Dictates
This article, written at the beginning of the year on January 17th, foretells the Bitcoin reward halving and its effect on the price.
Written on the pretense that if Bitcoin reacts with the same increase for this halving that it has in the past, Bitcoin would rally to $400,000.
The author determined this by looking at the bottom at top prices following the November 2012 halving and the July 2016 halving. Following the 2012 halving, bitcoin increased from $2.01 to $270.94, a 13,000 percent increase.
After the 2016 halving, bitcoin increased from $164.01 to $20,074, a 12,000 percent increase. If bitcoin follows this same halving pattern, it should reach new highs around $400,000.
#1 – XRP Briefly Traded at More Than $8,300 and Nobody Noticed
Our number one most-read article is one of the most controversial coins of the year: XRP. This article, written at the beginning of the year about the native currency of the Ripple network, highlights a massive price increase due to an individual’s mistake.
In October of 2019, an individual paid the equivalent of $8,341 per XRP, 31,000 times higher than the market price at the time. This may have happened as an accident or to manipulate low liquidity trading pairs.
Either way, there must have been some really happy XRP sellers who profited from the mistake.
There you have it, folks, a recap of our most-viewed articles for 2020. This has been a year of extremes, and it seems that this was well-represented by the articles that our readers clicked on the most.
We had a great 2020 and are looking forward to what 2021 will bring both for crypto and all of us here at BeInCrypto.
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