The Crypto Rundown: Looking Back At A Crazy 2018

THE CRYPTO RUNDOWN INAUGURAL EPISODE: LOOKING BACK AT A CRAZY 2018 HOST: MARK LONGO, CEO - THE OPTIONS INSIDER MEDIA GROUP CO-HOST: TOBY ALLEN, HEAD OF DIGITAL ASSETS, AKUNA CAPITAL INTRO/OVERVIEW WHAT IS THIS SHOW ABOUT? WHAT CAN THE AUDIENCE LOOK FORWARD TO IN FUTURE EPISODES? THE BITCOIN BREAKDOWN SEGMENT The world's first bitcoins were mined ten years ago this week. The first bitcoins were mined in a block of 50 coins called "Genesis Block" on January 3, 2009 2009: The first-ever bitcoin transaction took place on January 9, 2009 between Nakamoto and software developer Hal Finney. 2010: It's widely believed the first real-world bitcoin transaction was made in May 2010 by programmer Laszlo Hanyecz. Hanyecz spent 10,000 bitcoins on two Papa John's pizzas; those pizzas would now be worth more than $30 million at today's bitcoin price. 2010: Bitcoin gained public attention later in 2010 with the creation of an exchange called Mt. Gox. The Tokyo-based exchange allowed investors to trade bitcoin, which was priced around $0.07 per coin for most of that year, according to CoinDesk. 2011- Bitcoin's price hit a milestone $1 in 2011. But a series of hacks on the Mt. Gox exchange that year exposed the cryptocurrency's vulnerability to big price swings. 2014: MT GOX HACK, BTC HIT $300 AND STAY THERE FOR THREE YEARS 2017: BTC CROSSED $1000, HIT $2000 IN JULY AND NEARLY $20K IN DECEMBER BITCOIN BREAKDOWN SEGMENT - LOOKING BACK AT 2018 THE THEME FOR BITCOIN THIS YEAR WAS "DOWNSIDE" - BITCOIN SIMPLY COULDN'T SUSTAIN MUCH UPSIDE MOMENTUM IN 2018. BITCOIN MARKET CAP: Throughout the entire year, all of the biggest coins by market valuation have lost more than three-quarters of their net worth since December 2017. The entire ecosystem's market valuation saw an all-time high of more than half a trillion dollars and today that metric is just above $100 billion. BITCOIN VOLATILITY: NOT AS VOLATILE AS MOST PEOPLE ASSUME   CRYPTO QUESTIONS SEGMENT QUESTION FROM 77RT: When will we see bitcoin options on an exchange? QUESTION FROM BNUNES: What's the truth about bitcoin as an asset class? Some say crypto is digital gold and it's inversely correlated and others say that's nonsense. Which is it? QUESTION FROM SURREALGENTLEMAN: Heard a lot of noise over the past year about how bitcoin options skew would shape up if they were listed. Any idea how that that skew would look? Are the calls bid? Are the puts bid? Are they both bid? QUESTION FROM ELLEN KEMP: Seems like CME BTC contract won the horse race this year. Are you surprised that more people seem to prefer a five coin contract vs the one coin CBOE contract? QUESTION FROM JORDAN: Outlook for the crypto market in 2019?