What a year 2018 has been for blockchain and cryptocurrency news. Nasdaq confirmed they’ll be listing Bitcoin Futures, we said an emotional farewell to crypto godfather Tomothy C. May, and Calvin Ayre partied like it’s 1999.

Below are the most-read cryptocurrency news stories on our site this year. All of them were big stories – many of them Coin Rivet exclusives – and at the time of publishing many were the most talked about in the blockchain and crypto world.

Here are the top 10 Coin Rivet blockchain and cryptocurrency news stories of 2018, starting with the most read.

Nasdaq confirms it will list Bitcoin Futures

Published December 3rd, 2018, and the top cryptocurrency news story of the year: Rumours that Bitcoin will end up on the stock exchange’s boards in 2019 were finally addressed by Nasdaq’s senior officials. The news should herald a wider acceptance of cryptocurrency throughout the world, and is a huge step towards mass adoption.

Mansion goes on the market in Malta for 550 BTC and a chance to make history

Published September 2nd, 2018: Malta’s seemingly unstoppable rise as the world’s leading blockchain hub stepped up a gear as one of the island’s many crypto-related businesses put a large property up for sale in Bitcoin. The 860sqm historic building in the heart of the Mediterranean island’s vibrant capital – Valletta – comes with permission to be transformed into a hotel or even office space.

Rest in peace Timothy C. May, one of Bitcoin’s godfathers

Published December 15th, 2018: Timothy C. May, author of the Crypto Anarchist Manifesto, has passed away. In a Facebook post, Lucky Green, one of the earliest contributors to the Tor project, said: “Word has reached me that my dear friend, co-conspirator in many things and for many years, fellow Freedom Fighter Tim May passed away earlier this week at his home in Corralitos, California. Death appears to be from natural causes pending autopsy, i.e. Tim did not die in a hail of bullets as so many who didn’t know Tim all that well and largely from his public writings had predicted.”

Is the world’s biggest ever consumer giveaway about to happen with Stellar?

Published November 6th, 2018: Blockchain – the leading software provider for cryptocurrency – suddenly announced it plans to airdrop $125m (£95.5m) of Stellar Lumens to its users. The out-of-the-blue announcement was made by Blockchain CEO and co-founder Peter Smith as he revealed the company’s partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation.

Bitcoin Cash ABC vs Bitcoin Satoshi Vision – what will happen?

Published November 8th, 2018: Bitcoin ABC is the majority node implementation for the BCH blockchain, and all the talk predicted a hashing war – but according to network data from coin.dance, 98% of companies surveyed explicitly supported or were prepared for the Bitcoin ABC Roadmap.

Lightning Network hits massive capacity growth in just one month

Published November 27th, 2018: The Lightning Network hit 450 BTC network capacity – a remarkable 300% growth rate for the network that only reached 125 BTC capacity on the 14th November. 450 BTC represents more than $1.6 million of transaction throughput, which is now possible across a network of more than 4,200 nodes. Transactions up to the capacity can be instantly confirmed across the network, for fees as low as one Satoshi.

Calvin Ayre: Parties, nudity, red wine, pigs, hangovers, and lots of money…

Published August 17th, 2018: The term “disruptive” barely scratches the surface when trying to describe Calvin Ayre. His eccentric lifestyle, immense wealth, brushes with the law, and a fervent affection for cryptocurrency – particularly his beloved Bitcoin Cash – make him a favourite of the media tittle-tattlers. Yet, for all his eccentricity and ability to find the limelight, it’s rare that anyone can get close enough to interview arguably the most fascinating character in cryptocurrency.

deVere CEO predicts big things for Ripple XRP as usage soars

Published September 25th, 2018: XRP, currently the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin by market cap, was predicted to gather momentum and its price was believed to reach the key threshold of $1.00 by year-end. And it could even be double that in 12 months’ time as adoption and usage soars, according to Nigel Green, Founder and CEO of financial services organisation deVere Group.

Will Tone Vays be ordered to pay back capital earned from affiliate referrals?

Published November 13th, 2018: Cryptocurrency analyst Tone Vays had his BitMEX trading account terminated in November, as reported here at Coin Rivet, but will the New York resident face a ‘disgorgement’ order, which could mean returning all capital he has earned through affiliate links? Vays claims to have had more than 900 affiliate links on BitMEX, accounting for half of his income.

EXCLUSIVE: Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson takes aim at Bitcoin maximalists

Published November 8th, 2018: Charles Hoskinson started mining Bitcoin back in 2011, before going on to work alongside Dan Larimer in creating Bitshares and co-founding Ethereum with Vitalik Buterin. The 31-year-old now spearheads technology and engineering company IOHK, whose aim is to use peer-to-peer innovation to provide financial services to three billion unbanked people.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.