This month we saw r/Bitcoin reach 1M subscribers, Blockstream’s satellite coverage go global, Bakkt raise $182.5M, more Bitcoin & Lightning nodes in one, the Lightning Network pass 500 bitcoin in capacity, Cash App become the #1 app in the US App Store, and much more.

What the monthly news is about:

For those unfamiliar, each day I pick out the most popular/relevant/interesting stories in r/Bitcoin and save them. At the end of the month I release them in one batch, to give you a quick (but not necessarily the best) overview of what happened in bitcoin over the past month.

A recap of Bitcoin in December 2018

Adoption

• Some statistics on Localbitcoins in Venezuela (2 Dec)
• The Lightning Network has grown from 4 btc capacity to 450 since February (5 Dec)
• Cash App by Square is the #1 app in the US app store (8 Dec)
• Someone buys drinks using bitcoin in a bar in Paris (12 Dec)
• The Lightning Network reaches 500 btc in network capacity (21 Dec)
• A visualization of 15k lightning network channels (23 Dec)
• Several content creators are being banned or abandoning Patreon and considering bitcoin (27 Dec)

Development

• A list of possible future changes to Bitcoin by Luke Dash Jr (6 Dec)
• Someone creates a Lightning Network micropayment button (7 Dec)
• A discussion on the LNTipBot (8 Dec)
• The rise of the all-in-one Bitcoin & Lightning node (10 Dec)
• The first Bitcoin Lightning to ERC20 Atomic Swap (12 Dec)
• A discussion on Schnorr and Taproot on the Bitcoin development mailing list (14 Dec)
• Bitcoin Core 0.17.1 is released (25 Dec)
• Someone creates an offline tool that fixes mistyped private keys or fixes missing characters (30 Dec)

Security

• Some people stole $3.3M in cryptocurrency from over 100 smartphones (7 Dec)
• A warning not to use single-address website-generated paper wallets (19 Dec)
• Someone proposes January 3rd as an “independence day” where users should control their keys (22 Dec)
• A discussion on security against quantum computing attacks in Bitcoin (25 Dec)
• Someone’s Electrum Wallet got hacked through a sophisticated attack (27 Dec)
• All major hardware wallets were hacked at CCC35 once the physical devices were altered (27 Dec)
• A response from Trezor and Ledger on the “hackings” (28 Dec)

Mining

• Bitcoin gets its second biggest drop in mining difficulty at -15% (3 Dec)
• The Bitcoin mining difficulty is down 31.5% from its peak while hashrate is still increasing (21 Dec)

Business

• Bitfury presents the Lightning Network coffee machine (2 Dec)
• Bitmain Q3 2018 results show a $740M loss (4 Dec)
• Shakepay adds a feature that turns spare change from purchases into bitcoin (13 Dec)
• Blockstream satellite coverage is now worldwide (18 Dec)
• Tim Draper invests $1.25M in OpenNode (18 Dec)
• BlueWallet introduces the MVP of its zero-configuration Lightning payments on iOS and Android (20 Dec)
• Bitmain to lay off 50% of its workforce (25 Dec)
• Bakkt raises $182.5M (31 Dec)

Education

• An updated beginner’s guide on how to build an online store and accept bitcoin payments without coding (1 Dec)
• A video discussing the manipulation going on with the bitcoin price by financial institutions (1 Dec)
• A video explainer of hashed time lock contracts and routing on the Lightning Network (9 Dec)
• A discussion on exchanges and Blockchain-based identities (26 Dec)
• An explanation of Lightning Network payment channels (29 Dec)

Regulation & Politics

• bitcoin speculation in Denmark has a 53-65% profit tax (5 Dec)
• Coinbase executives are allegedly lobbying regulators with lies about bitcoin (20 Dec)
• Lawmakers want to change the SEC’s 72-year old securities definition to exclude cryptocurrency (20 Dec)
• The US Chief of Staff says Bitcoin is good as it’s out of the hands of governments (17 Dec)

Archeology (Financial Incumbents)

• Western Union CEO says they are prepared to add cryptocurrencies when it is necessary (18 Dec)

Price & Trading

• The Japanese Yen surpasses the US Dollar as the most traded fiat pair (26 Dec)
• The total profit from buying and selling bitcoin on each day of 2017 and 2018 (30 Dec)

Fun & Other

• Someone wears a buy bitcoin vest at protests in Paris (1 Dec)
• r/Bitcoin reaches 1 million subscribers (3 Dec)
• A discussion on the meaning of “Hodl” (8 Dec)
• Coinbase recently moved 856k bitcoins (10 Dec)
• An interview with Nick Szabo (11 Dec)
• 10-year jail term sought for former Mt Gox CEO Mark Karpeles (12 Dec)
• Predictions from 1995 on why the Internet won’t work (15 Dec)
• Timothy C May, the writer of the Crypto Anarchist Manifesto, passes away (15 Dec)
• Someone helps a user recover their funds after sending litecoin to a bitcoin address (16 Dec)
• A user shows their Bitcoin full node and Lightning node (19 Dec)
• Cryptograffiti sells an artwork for 1 millisatoshi (20 Dec)
• A discussion on dual economies with bitcoin as the Internet currency (23 Dec)
• 2018 was a successful year for Bitcoin in terms of network performance (24 Dec)
• A list of a few holiday destinations that are Bitcoin-friendly (28 Dec)
• How Amara’s law applies to Bitcoin (29 Dec)
• A reminder of the Pineapple fund (31 Dec)
• Tony Robbins tweets about Bitcoin to his 3M followers (31 Dec)
• TIME magazine on why Bitcoin matters for freedom (31 Dec)