Bitcoin's price history and the factors that influence it.
In 2014, the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, was hacked and 850,000 BTC were stolen. This caused a massive sell-off and the price of Bitcoin crashed from $1000 to $200. The Mt. Gox hack was a major factor in the Bitcoin bear market of 2014.
The bull market of 2017 and the ICO craze
In 2017, Bitcoin's price started to recover and reached an all-time high of $20,000 by December. This was due to a number of factors including the increasing adoption of Bitcoin by businesses and investors, as well as the proliferation of initial coin offerings (ICOs). ICOs are a new way for startups to raise capital by issuing their own digital tokens in exchange for BTC or other cryptocurrencies.
The Bitcoin halving of 2020 and beyond
The Bitcoin halving is a scheduled event that happens every four years where the block reward for miners is reduced in half. The next halving is scheduled for May 2020 and it is expected that this will have a positive effect on the price of Bitcoin due to reduced supply and increased demand.