With Bitcoin price rising like an eagle, albeit a slight slump on Christmas, it ricocheted back impressively heading to $1000.In fact, next month is precisely eight good years since the first Bitcoin block was mined.In less than a week, the price rose more than 12 percent and looking at some factors the prospects in 2017 are all auspicious.Bitcoin experts believe that the current trend of an upward adjustment for the pioneer cryptocurrency will continue unabated in 2017. holds the belief that there is good reason to think that 2017 will be the best year for Bitcoin.In an interview with Cointelegraph, the astute crypto investor was very optimistic that the best thing that ever happened to Bitcoin will occur in 2017.For a couple of years now, the Crypto Community is eagerly waiting for the green light for a Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) to usher Bitcoin into the financial mainstream.However, this has been elusive even though not impossible.It will be recalled that the Winklevoss twins filed for an ETF with the SEC in mid-2013.

Many are of the view that if ETF becomes a reality in 2017, the industry will see the best of its times.Nevertheless, others are of the opinion that this won’t see the light of the day.bitcoin escrow wordpressYet Roger firmly believes this will be possible in 2017, and it will lead to unprecedented positive consequences for Bitcoin.bitcoin price rise graph“It has been possible from day one, but the regulators have delayed it, and denied the ability of mln of people to easily participate in the Bitcoin economy via financial instruments that they are already familiar with.” The biggest trial for Bitcoin at the moment and something that saw an intense discussion with passion throughout 2016 is the Bitcoin blocksize.bitcoin net hashrateAlas, just a few days to end the year and no concrete agreements are in sight.when will bitcoin bubble pop

A slow transaction is pushing many people and businesses to integrate alternative cryptocurrencies.To Roger Ver whether a hard fork in 2017 is possible is a tough question to answer.bitcoin rise graph“This is the $15 bln question.cek bitcoinI wish I had a definite answer for you, but we just don’t know yet.It is also worth noting that a hard fork is just another name for a protocol upgrade,” the Bitcoin early adopter humorously pointed out.Even though the community has optimistic expectations for Bitcoin in the coming year, the fact remains that the issue of the block size is still retrogressive to the ecosystem.All is not gloomy since there are solutions like Bitcoin Unlimited, SegWit and others that have been offered as a solution.On the other hand, the rise in Bitcoin’s price has also created an apprehension of hackers striking exchanges.Bitfinex lost $70 mln this year after it was hacked as a result of a faulty multi-signature.

Community members are concerned that the hacking of Bitcoin Exchanges could lead to a lower price rate and dissuade people from Bitcoin, but Roger expressed a different opinion that is far from the general outlook.“Since no single exchange has a significant market share at this point, I don’t think individual exchange hackings are likely to have any long-term effect on the price,” Roger eloquently countered.One noticeable trend in 2016 is the manner in which governments around the world have made a u-turn on Bitcoin offering to legalize it and then regulate.Countries like Russia and Vietnam after years of outlawing Satoshi shamelessly admitted it is unstoppable and rescinded such a position.Refreshingly Japan also announced it would soon scrap the sales tax on Bitcoin transactions and purchases.The move was welcomed news for the Bitcoin community in the Asian Tiger Country.Will 2017 see more regulations from the nation state over Bitcoin?Roger Ver, as usual, has something prudent for you in 2017 and beyond: “Of course.

That’s what governments do.In the end, though, it will be Bitcoin that regulates governments, not the other way around.”by Tyler Durden Naysyers are warning that the recent plunge in Bitcoin prices - from almost $318 at its peak during the Greek crisis, to $221 yesterday - is due to growing power struggle over the future of the cryptocurrency that is dividing its lead developers.On Saturday, a rival version of the current software was released by two bitcoin big guns.As Reuters reports, Bitcoin XT would increase the block size to 8 megabytes enabling more transactions to be processed every second.Those who oppose Bitcoin XT say the bigger block size jeopardizes the vision of a decentralized payments system that bitcoin is built on with some believing the split could spell the end of bitcoin.However, the turmoil in the price also coincides with some rather notable global macro events from Asia (where Bitcoin is extremely popular).So while the price action is serious - we have roundtripped from the beginning of the peak of the Greek crisis.

However, as Reuters reports, the split in cryptocurrency developers could spell the end of Bitcoin... On Saturday, a rival version of the current software was released by two bitcoin big guns: Gavin Andresen, who was chosen by the currency's elusive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, as his successor when he stepped aside in 2011, and Mike Hearn, who along with Andresen is one of five senior developers.For months Andresen and Hearn have been locked in an argument with the other three lead programmers over whether the "blocks" in which bitcoin transactions are processed should be enlarged from their current 1 megabyte, so as to enable more than three payments to be processed per second.The new version, which calls itself Bitcoin XT, would increase the block size to 8 megabytes, which would allow up to 24 transactions to be processed every second.That is still a fraction of the 20,000 or so that VISA can process, but would increase every year, so that bitcoin could continue to grow.Those who oppose Bitcoin XT say the bigger block size jeopardizes the vision of a decentralized payments system that bitcoin is built on, as the extra computer memory needed would shut out many of the thousands of individual "nodes" that currently power the network.

Some reckon the split could spell the end of bitcoin.But Hearn, speaking to Reuters on Tuesday, said that whether or not Bitcoin XT was adopted, the crypocurrency would live on.Andresen and Hearn argue that it was Nakamoto's intention for bitcoin to be scaled up as technology developed so that it could widen its reach.But opponents argue that bitcoin was never intended as a rival to traditional payments systems."I have followed this from the beginning & I agree that it is an attempted governance coup," tweeted Jon Matonis, founding director of the Washington, D.C.-based Bitcoin Foundation, of which Andresen himself is chief scientist."Bitcoin was designed to be protected from the influence of charismatic leaders, even if their name is Gavin Andresen, Barack Obama, or Satoshi Nakamoto," the user wrote.We leave it to the reader to decide which is more responsible for the recent crash as one lead developer noted, "If we thought it might be the end of bitcoin, we wouldn't do it," Finally, we note that add that the biggest winner from this is gold The flight to central bank loss of control safety "pet rock" will never have governance problems.