James Cirrone

Few would argue that Bitcoin today closely reflects the vision Satoshi Nakamoto, its pseudonymous creator, presented in their white paper exactly 15 years ago.



Yes, the broad strokes remain relevant. Bitcoin is still a proof-of-work blockchain that relies on consensus between nodes to operate properly.&nbsp;



But the pitch made in the 2008 white paper —&nbsp;bitcoin as a form of digital cash — has evolved and expanded over time. Some now look to bitcoin as more of a reserve asset, akin to a digital form of gold.



But a framework for digital cash, without the need to trust a central intermediary or administrator, was at the heart of Nakamoto’s initial proposal:&nbsp;&nbsp;



“What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust,



allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted



third party. Transactions that are computationally impractical to reverse would protect sellers



from fraud, and routine escrow mechanisms could easily be implemented to protect buyers,” Nakamoto wrote in the white paper.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-anniversary-satoshi-nakamoto">Bitcoin white paper turns 15 years old</a>



But what Bitcoin would ultimately become, and how it was perceived by those who used it and invested in it, began to take shape in the first years since the white paper’s publication.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mining pools and hardware</h2>



The advent of mining pools was arguably one of the first notable departures from the blueprint laid out by the white paper.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/satoshi-nakamoto">Satoshi</a> originally intended for individuals to be able to use their personal computers to mine bitcoin. This remained technically true, but over time, bitcoin <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/bitcoin-mining">mining</a> grew to center around one defining principle: scale.



Satoshi’s original conception ensured that anyone could participate in the validation and security of the network without needing specialized equipment, thus making the ecosystem more inclusive and resistant to central control. The rise of mining pools and advanced mining hardware shifted the dynamics, leading to increased centralization.



“The proof-of-work also solves the problem of determining representation in majority decision making. If the majority were based on one-IP-address-one-vote, it could be subverted by anyone able to allocate many IPs. Proof-of-work is essentially one-CPU-one-vote.” Nakamoto wrote.



The first mining pool, initially dubbed bitcoin.cz and later renamed to Slush Pool, was <a href="https://braiins.com/pool/story">created</a> by Marek “Slush” Palatinus in 2010 to address the fact that people were beginning to use GPUs instead of CPUs to mine bitcoin. Mining pools were supposed to aid the solo miner in finding blocks, even if they didn’t have access to a high powered gaming computer.



GPU mining continued to take off throughout the early 2010’s until Canaan Creative released the world’s first set of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for bitcoin mining.&nbsp;



ASICs continued getting more and more efficient throughout the years, which drove the cost of these specialized devices up into the tens of thousands of dollars. Plus, powering them requires massive amounts of electricity. This effectively made bitcoin mining completely unprofitable for at-home solo miners.&nbsp;



Now, large corporations dominate what has become a commodities production industry —&nbsp;albeit, entirely digital.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Bitcoin improvement proposals</h2>



Discounting the wholly different dynamics of mining, the very mechanics of the Bitcoin network have also changed in the last 10 or so years.&nbsp;



In 2012, the Bitcoin network introduced Pay to Script Hash (P2SH) through BIP 16 to simplify multi-signature transactions. Before P2SH, multi-signature transactions were cumbersome and risk-prone, requiring the entire redeem script—defining spending conditions—to be revealed upfront.&nbsp;



With P2SH, users send funds to a standardized Bitcoin address representing a hash of the redeem script, concealing its complexity. Only when spending the coins is the full script disclosed and its conditions met, which was meant to streamline transactions, enhance user-friendliness and improve scalability.



Segregated Witness, also known as SegWit, was another significantly important bitcoin improvement proposal (BIP) that became effective in 2017. It addressed transaction malleability and effectively raised the block size limit from the original 1MB to 4MB.



SegWit opened the door for a 2021 proposal called Taproot. Taproot made transactions more efficient and private, while also allowing users to engage in more complex transaction types.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Exchanges, ETFs and traditional instruments</h2>



The trading market for bitcoin has also become far more complicated over the years, with companies offering a variety of products.



The possibility of large institutions offering bitcoin-associated financial products didn’t come up in the white paper. Nakamoto’s intention was for bitcoin to act as an alternative, decentralized method of exchange, likely not as a means for traditional investors to make money.



Not to mention, the concept of buying something like a bitcoin ETF inherently means the user is giving custody of their funds over to large financial institutions instead of holding bitcoin on their own.



Nakamoto’s distrust of banks was elucidated in the first two sentences of the white paper.&nbsp;



“Commerce on the Internet has come to rely almost exclusively on financial institutions serving as trusted third parties to process electronic payments. While the system works well enough for most transactions, it still suffers from the inherent weaknesses of the trust based model,” Nakamoto wrote.



Last week’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-etf-price-rally">spot bitcoin ETF speculation</a> was arguably evidence that, despite Satoshi’s apparent wishes to the contrary, segments of the crypto ecosystem are eager for some connection to that trust model. Bitcoin’s (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a>) price rose sharply on speculation that a bitcoin ETF was nearing approval.



Though spot bitcoin ETFs are not allowed in the US at this time, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/us-europe-spot-bitcoin-etf">Europe saw the launch of its</a> first one in August 2023.



Bitcoin futures ETFs have already been allowed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, with ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) becoming the first to go live in October 2021.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/proshares-bito-bitcoin-futures-etf">BITO volumes soar Tuesday in midst of BTC price rally</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">DeFi, Ordinals, and more</h2>



Enter DeFi with Bitcoin Ordinals — an attempt to merge a more archaic blockchain with an Ethereum-like appetite for digital collectibles or <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/nfts">NFTs</a>.



Though, it’s impossible to discuss Ordinals without mentioning its precursor, Counterparty. The protocol launched in 2014 on Bitcoin and allowed people to exchange rare digital collectibles long before the NFT boom of 2021. Rare Pepe, an NFT collection inspired by the Pepe the Frog meme, originated on Counterparty.



Of course, non-fungible tokens weren’t around at the inception of Bitcoin. However, the 2021 Taproot upgrade, which allowed for much faster verification of multi-signature transactions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/new-bitcoin-ordinals-marketplace">opened the door to inscribing text, images, SVGs and HTML</a> on the smallest denomination of bitcoin, known as a satoshi (Sat).



Ordinals have seen significant success. On May 1 of this year, Ordinals contributed to Bitcoin’s largest number of transactions in a single day up to that point.&nbsp;



That record — over 682,000 — was later broken in September 2023 with <a href="https://bitinfocharts.com/comparison/bitcoin-transactions.html#1y">over 703,000 transactions</a> on Sept. 15, 2023, with Ordinal inscriptions reaching new peaks simultaneously.



When bitcoin was in its infancy in 2009 and 2010, less than 1,000 transactions on average were processed a day. By 2011 and 2012, transactions were often in the single-digit thousands.



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How Bitcoin has evolved since Nakamoto’s white paper debut

Fifteen years ago today, Satoshi Nakamoto — whose true identity remains a mystery — published their seminal white paper titled &#8220;Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.&#8221;



Spanning just nine pages, this document offered up a blueprint that reimagined the way we perceive and transfer value in a digital age. It delved into the intricacies of cryptographic hashing, the architecture of blocks and the timing mechanisms that would be used to sustain them.



One of the white paper&#8217;s main innovations was its proposed proof-of-work system. While not Satoshi&#8217;s invention, its application in the context of a decentralized cryptocurrency was novel. Building upon ideas like Adam Back&#8217;s &#8220;Hashcash,&#8221; the author adapted the preexisting proof-of-work concept in order to address the double-spending problem. This ensured that every transaction on the network was verified through consensus, without relying on a central authority.



“Once the CPU effort has been expended to make it satisfy the proof-of-work, the block cannot be changed without redoing the work. As later blocks are chained after it, the work to change the block would include redoing all the blocks after it,” Nakamoto wrote in the whitepaper.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/proof-of-work-vs-proof-of-stake-whats-the-difference">Proof-of-work vs. proof-of-stake: Which is better?</a>



The CEO of Luxor, a firm that provides firmware for bitcoin mining machines and a hashrate derivatives trading platform, called what Nakamoto envisioned “magical.”



“The <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/bitcoin">Bitcoin</a> blockchain is somewhat magical in that it grows stronger as time goes on…which is somewhat against the laws of the universe. As things get older, generally they degrade and break down,” Nick Hansen told Blockworks.



“I think <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/satoshi-nakamoto">Satoshi</a> probably envisioned that,” Hansen added.&nbsp;



At present, the bitcoin blockchain has <a href="https://ycharts.com/indicators/bitcoin_blockchain_size">surpassed</a> 522 GB in size, essentially making any attempt at tampering with the distributed ledger a fool’s errand.&nbsp;



Hansen said he thinks Nakamoto likely also saw a future where <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-rally-mining-stocks">institutions and large companies would be the ones dominating</a> the effort to mine bitcoin, especially as the network grew larger and the computational need grew with it.&nbsp;



“Since Satoshi early on did design this to be a global payment rail, I think it would be foolish to assume that the mining portion of that ecosystem [wouldn’t] probably need to be done by massive institutional grade companies,” Hansen said. “I would say that yes, he probably figured that bitcoin mining would become a massive commodity business.”



Nakamoto drew a parallel to gold mining in the &#8220;incentive&#8221; section of the whitepaper, which detailed how bitcoins would initially circulate. Essentially, &#8220;mining&#8221; refers to the process of verifying transactions on the network.



“The steady addition of a constant of [sic] amount of new coins is analogous to gold miners expending resources to add gold to circulation. In our case, it is CPU time and electricity that is expended,” Nakamoto wrote.&nbsp;



What Nakamoto may or may not have envisioned was how bitcoin could be used to aid those suffering under the reign of dictators.&nbsp;



The Human Rights Foundation (HRF), a nonprofit championing human rights, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/hrf-bitcoin-bounty">views bitcoin as a pivotal weapon</a> against despotism. Its decentralized nature allows those under autocratic regimes to transact outside the confines of government-controlled fiat currency.



Further championing this cause, the HRF&#8217;s Bitcoin Development Fund extends grants to innovators working to improve the bitcoin network. One notable beneficiary was the developer behind <a href="https://lnp2pbot.com/">lnp2pBot</a>, an initiative that bolsters privacy by enabling users to exchange dollars for bitcoin without the need for KYC (know your customer) identification.



The HRF’s chief strategy officer Alex Gladstein told Blockworks he’s “much more bullish” on bitcoin these days because of how much easier it is to use it since 2013, when the HRF first started working with bitcoin.



“The apps are better, they have better UX,” Gladstein said. “We have the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/lightning-network">Lightning Network</a>, which we didn&#8217;t have then, so we don&#8217;t have to wait around 10 minutes for confirmation and you can send bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a>) instantly. We have much better privacy tools than we used to have back then, which is really important for activists.”



Gladstein also noted Nakamoto’s curious choice to release the bitcoin whitepaper on Oct. 31. That was the same date Martin Luther nailed his revolutionary 95 theses to a church’s door in protest of Catholicism over 500 years ago.&nbsp;



Luther’s arguments against the church had the first whisperings of the concept of separating religion from the state, whereas the bitcoin white paper argued for the separation of money from the state, Gladstein said.



Another explanation for the publication date could be that Halloween is quite befitting for someone who later became the most famous masked anonymous figure in all of crypto.&nbsp;



Or, the specific date of Oct. 31 may not have been chosen for any particular reason other than perhaps being timed right around some of the worst declines in the traditional stock market in history.



Either way, Nakamoto’s thoughts, motives and intentions will likely be fertile ground for speculation for years to come.



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Bitcoin white paper turns 15 years old

Bessie Liu

Safe, previously known as Gnosis Safe, is developing a standard with the goal of transitioning the Web3 space to modular smart accounts.



As Ethereum co-founder contended in a June blog post, smart accounts are critical to bringing on more users into the blockchain Web3 space. A smart account, in essence, enhances how a user manages their digital assets via the use of smart contracts. 



Richard Meissner, co-founder of Safe, told Blockworks that when the team began its work, it sought ways to extend smart account functionality.&nbsp;



“The challenge was that these modules bring an inherent risk because the more powerful it is, the more you expose your underlying logic and your account could be abused,” Meissner said.&nbsp;



With growing interest from the Web3 community in account abstraction and smart contract wallets over recent months, Meissner said it was a good opportunity to begin delving into these problems.



Along with co-founder Lukas Schor, Safe released a <a href="https://github.com/safe-global/safe-core-protocol-specs/blob/main/whitepaper.pdf">whitepaper</a> for a “Safe Core Protocol” that explores different ways to streamline <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-are-smart-contract-wallets">smart account</a> solutions. Beyond general security concerns, the whitepaper addresses potential solutions to ecosystem fragmentation.



Today, there are multiple ecosystem initiatives around smart accounts and smart contract wallets, all of which have slight differences between them. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/smart-contract-wallets-will-make-defi-less-cumbersome">Instadapp</a> and <a href="https://metamask.io/news/latest/account-abstraction-past-present-future/">MetaMask</a>, for example, are all looking at ways to incorporate the technology into their respective infrastructure stacks.



Meissner told Blockworks that “over the next couple of months, it will be an important task to look at where we can further line up to prevent fragmentation.



Seeking a solution



The whitepaper introduces the concept of a “Manager” which is responsible for managing “Accounts”, “Registries” and “Modules.” 



An abstraction layer — a separation layer between different components of a system — is used to navigate the complexities between fragmentation, interoperability and security.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/U2XUpTEz1jvvwO1x-Pb1eo8SCG7pIbiVl2Rthnsa0MVm8Ah-oxwK0iJ-S_FrznJL4xNR3YNjCJ-MPof30R5Dojw8LNAzWZZV_unn36NYkqH4439WO2r2aqK8vaT-isfN5CmPJTcNFcEpw5RbNvUEKR8" alt=""/></figure>



Per the paper, smart account users can choose to opt into a protocol by enabling the Manager, which will then give it access to functionalities enabled through Modules. To ensure the security of these Modules, Registries exist to enforce standards.&nbsp;



Schor told Blockworks that the Safe Core Protocol aims to address issues around interoperability and security.&nbsp;



“In the long run, we want you to be able to plug your different smart accounts into the same protocol, it’s all interoperable, and it all leverages the same security properties,” said Schor.



Over the next few months, the team will seek community feedback on the proposed protocol.



“We wanted to get the white paper out early even though we&#8217;re still working on the actual implementation to get early community feedback,” Schor said. “It gets harder to change things as we go along, so we want to get feedback as early as possible when things are still very flexible.”







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Safe is designing a new standard for modular smart accounts

Shalini Nagarajan

Once you update your Mac to the latest beta version of the Apple operating system, you’ll no longer be able to find the original Bitcoin white paper that was deeply embedded into some older versions.



The Bitcoin white paper was first <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/apple-bitcoin-white-paper">discovered on Apple’s system files</a> by blogger Andy Baio on April 5. He told Blockworks that he accidentally located it while trying to fix his wireless printer, which wasn’t showing up in Image Capture after he upgraded his MacOS.&nbsp;



Apple removed the document from the MacOS Ventura 13.4 beta 3, which rolled out to developers on Tuesday, <a href="https://9to5mac.com/2023/04/25/apple-removes-bitcoin-whitepaper-from-macos/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">9to5mac</a> reported on April 25.



Most users likely won’t have access to the latest beta version yet. So, you’ll still be able to locate the file by executing a command in Terminal or otherwise unpacking the contents of a hidden file, simpledoc.pdf.



Baio noticed a device named “Virtual Scanner II” that he hadn’t come across before. He only found sparse information about it online, including one Twitter thread mentioning where the files for the device were located on the system. Baio used a command he wrote for Terminal to confirm the location of the files and his friends confirmed that they could see the same.



The file can be found in all versions of MacOS from Mojave (10.14.0), released in 2018, up to the current Ventura (13.3), but isn’t present in High Sierra (10.13) or earlier versions, Baio <a href="https://waxy.org/2023/04/the-bitcoin-whitepaper-is-hidden-in-every-modern-copy-of-macos/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">noted</a>.



The discovery prompted lively discussions in an Apple <a href="https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254768314" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">online forum</a> marked by a mixture of bemusement and indignation at the presence of “a Bitcoin manifesto.”



“I struggle to understand why a file like this would be allowed into any kind of App code on OS X,” one user wrote. “I&#8217;d ask the powers that be to please remove if not needed. And double check that similar hidden assets are not allowed into future updates.”



Others were more sympathetic. “I wouldn&#8217;t read much into this,&#8221; another user replied. &#8220;Some developer likely had a keen interest in the technology behind Bitcoin…It provides a rather sophisticated scanner test.”



The VirtualScanner internal tool reportedly enabled Apple’s engineers to replicate the process of scanning and exporting documents and images using the Image Capture app, without the requirement of a physical scanner. Apparently, this in-house tool has been eliminated from the beta version.



9to5Mac said the revelation confirmed its hypothesis that the Bitcoin white paper and the internal tool were not intended to be accessed by ordinary users. Apple didn’t respond to Blockworks’ request for comment by press time.



The discovery of the hidden white paper <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/04/09/surprise-bitcoin-easter-egg-fuels-wild-satoshi-nakamoto-identity-theory/?sh=5b4d51735333" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">generated speculation</a> about the genuine identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, with some <a href="https://twitter.com/harrymccracken/status/1644006912537812992" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">imagining</a> that Apple CEO Tim Cook could be the pseudonymous bitcoin developer.



The most rational explanation, according to 9to5Mac, is that Apple’s engineers may have disregarded removing this tool from previous public releases of MacOS as it didn’t contain any confidential information.



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Apple Purges Bitcoin White Paper in Latest MacOS Update

Sam Martin

<div id="highlights-block_617725d07bf3f" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Square subsidiary TBD looks to build an open platform to create a decentralized exchange for bitcoin</li>
 <li>ETH has outperformed BTC over the last 24 hours, according to TradingView data</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



TBD, a business created by Square this year, has released its whitepaper for the tbDEX protocol. 



ETH has outperformed BTC since yesterday&#8217;s broader market sell-off. The crypto asset is showing strong similarities to bitcoin in 2017.



NFTs continue to show strength due to falling prices of the assets they are denominated in. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Latest in Macro:</h3>



<ul><li>S&amp;P 500: 4,697, -0.14%</li><li>NASDAQ: 16,057, +0.40%</li><li>Gold: $1,847, -0.62%</li><li>WTI Crude Oil: $76.11, -3.67%</li><li>10-Year Treasury: 1.539%, -0.05%</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Latest in Crypto:</h3>



<ul><li>BTC: $57,960, +0.56%</li><li>ETH: $4,273, +6.19%</li><li>ETH/BTC: 0.07, +5.09%</li><li>BTC.D: 42.74%, -2.28%</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Square unveils tbDEX whitepaper</h3>



<a href="https://squareup.com/us/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Square</a> subsidiary <a href="https://twitter.com/TBD54566975" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TBD</a> released its <a href="https://tbdex.io/whitepaper.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tbDEX whitepaper</a> on Friday.



“We believe Bitcoin will be the native currency of the internet,&#8221; <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/jack-dorsey-tbd-will-be-open-platform-for-decentralized-bitcoin-exchanges/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> Mike Brock, Square&#8217;s TBD lead. &#8220;While there are many projects to help make the internet more decentralized, our focus is solely on a sound global monetary system for all.&#8221;



The decentralized exchange (DEX) hopes to make digital assets and decentralized financial services more accessible by creating a ubiquity of on-ramps and off-ramps directly between the fiat and crypto financial systems without the need for centralized intermediaries and trust brokers.



&#8220;We are at a crossroads in our financial system,&#8221; the project&#8217;s whitepaper states. &#8220;The emergence of trustless, decentralized networks unlocks the potential for a future where commerce can happen without the permission, participation or benefit of financial intermediaries.&#8221;



Unlike other DEXs, tbDEX will not have its own token or utilize atomic swaps, but will instead rely on the public key infrastructure that is used for securing the internet today in conjunction with digital identifiers. The whitepaper clearly acknowledges that on- and off-ramps to fiat currencies will never be fully decentralized. 



An overview of the protocol can be seen in the image below.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="883" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.29.24-PM-1024x883.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11623" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.29.24-PM-1024x883.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.29.24-PM-1024x883.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.29.24-PM-1024x883.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.29.24-PM-1024x883.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.29.24-PM-1024x883.png?w=298 298w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.29.24-PM-1024x883.png?w=303 303w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.29.24-PM-1024x883.png?w=254 254w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.29.24-PM-1024x883.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.29.24-PM-1024x883.png?w=1538 1538w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Source: tbDEX <a href="https://tbdex.io/whitepaper.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">whitepaper</a></figcaption></figure></div>



The protocol will be open-source and is still in its early stages of development. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">ETH/BTC</h3>



<meta charset="utf-8">ETH has outperformed BTC over the last 24 hours, according to TradingView, with the ETH-to-BTC price ratio rising from 0.070 to 0.074 &#8211; an increase of about 5.3%.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="582" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ETHBTC_2021-11-19_15-29-37-1024x582.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11622" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ETHBTC_2021-11-19_15-29-37-1024x582.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ETHBTC_2021-11-19_15-29-37-1024x582.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ETHBTC_2021-11-19_15-29-37-1024x582.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ETHBTC_2021-11-19_15-29-37-1024x582.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ETHBTC_2021-11-19_15-29-37-1024x582.png?w=2048 2048w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ETHBTC_2021-11-19_15-29-37-1024x582.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ETHBTC_2021-11-19_15-29-37-1024x582.png?w=460 460w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ETHBTC_2021-11-19_15-29-37-1024x582.png?w=386 386w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ETHBTC_2021-11-19_15-29-37-1024x582.png?w=80 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Source: Trading View</figcaption></figure>



ETH today shows eerie similarities to BTC in 2017. 



&#8220;I have been showing this spooky chart of ETH now vs BTC in 2017 in various forms,&#8221; Global Macro Investor Founder Raoul Pal <a href="https://twitter.com/RaoulGMI/status/1460779211849932800?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote</a> in a Tuesday Twitter post. &#8220;This is my live [crypto index] on Bloomberg &#8230; even nailed this sell off &#8230; to the day and price. What happened next? A 300% rally. 



&#8220;Now, I don&#8217;t expect perfection, but with all the other analysis I have done, something like a 100% to 300% rally is highly probable into year end,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Nothing is a certain. After that, its a tougher call but I think it possibly elongates and sees significantly higher prices.&#8221;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="628" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-v-btc2017-1024x628.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-11619" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-v-btc2017-1024x628.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-v-btc2017-1024x628.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-v-btc2017-1024x628.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-v-btc2017-1024x628.jpg?w=419 419w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-v-btc2017-1024x628.jpg?w=425 425w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-v-btc2017-1024x628.jpg?w=357 357w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-v-btc2017-1024x628.jpg?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-v-btc2017-1024x628.jpg?w=1040 1040w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Source: Raoul Pal</figcaption></figure>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="589" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-vs-btc-2017-1024x589.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-11620" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-vs-btc-2017-1024x589.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-vs-btc-2017-1024x589.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-vs-btc-2017-1024x589.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-vs-btc-2017-1024x589.jpg?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-vs-btc-2017-1024x589.jpg?w=454 454w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-vs-btc-2017-1024x589.jpg?w=381 381w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-vs-btc-2017-1024x589.jpg?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/eth-vs-btc-2017-1024x589.jpg?w=1200 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Source: Raoul Pal</figcaption></figure></div>



&#8220;ETH is also attempting a similar flip,&#8221; a <a href="https://members.delphidigital.io/reports/deleveraging-volatility-mixed-market-signals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Delphi Digital report</a> stated. &#8220;If price holds above the May 2021 closing peak, ETH will also look primed for trend continuation to the upside. If price support gives way, the hope for bulls would shift to a possible retest and bounce off the upper trend line established from the May 2021 top to the Sep. 2021 high.&#8221; 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="512" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-3.42.29-PM-1024x512.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11621" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-3.42.29-PM-1024x512.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-3.42.29-PM-1024x512.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-3.42.29-PM-1024x512.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-3.42.29-PM-1024x512.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-3.42.29-PM-1024x512.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-3.42.29-PM-1024x512.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-3.42.29-PM-1024x512.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-3.42.29-PM-1024x512.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-3.42.29-PM-1024x512.png?w=2048 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Source: Delphi Digital</figcaption></figure>



Ethereum has seen the <a href="https://etherscan.io/chart/active-address" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">number of active addresses</a> on the network continue to climb. The <a href="https://watchtheburn.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">net issuance</a> of ETH continues to fall towards zero, <a href="https://etherscan.io/chart/address" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unique addresses</a> are increasing, <a href="https://dune.xyz/datanut/Polygon-MATIC" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">scaling solutions</a> are seeing increased adoption and mainstream use cases continue to unfold, such as <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/press/sothebys-to-announce-live-bidding-increments-in-ether-eth-cryptocurrency-for-banksys-trolley-hunters-and-love-is-in-the-air" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sotheby&#8217;s denominating prices in ETH</a>. 



In addition, the <a href="https://ethereum.org/en/eth2/merge/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ethereum merge</a> is right around the corner.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)</h3>



Trading data from <a href="https://opensea.io/rankings" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">OpenSea</a> and <a href="https://solanalysis.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Solanalysis</a> of some of the top Solana and Ethereum projects can be found below:



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="333" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.35.47-PM-1024x333.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11624" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.35.47-PM-1024x333.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.35.47-PM-1024x333.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.35.47-PM-1024x333.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.35.47-PM-1024x333.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.35.47-PM-1024x333.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.35.47-PM-1024x333.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.35.47-PM-1024x333.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.35.47-PM-1024x333.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.35.47-PM-1024x333.png?w=2048 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Top Ethereum Projects</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="278" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.36.09-PM-1024x278.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11625" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.36.09-PM-1024x278.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.36.09-PM-1024x278.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.36.09-PM-1024x278.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.36.09-PM-1024x278.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.36.09-PM-1024x278.png?w=2048 2048w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.36.09-PM-1024x278.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.36.09-PM-1024x278.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.36.09-PM-1024x278.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-19-at-4.36.09-PM-1024x278.png?w=80 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Top Solana Projects </figcaption></figure></div>



If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I am looking forward to catching up on Monday.



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