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2018Crypto winter

After the mania came the long unwinding. Bitcoin lost most of its value, thousands of tokens collapsed, and attention shifted from price to building infrastructure.

Year-end price (approx.)

~$3,700

Block reward

12.5 BTC

Peak to low, Dec 2017–Dec 2018

≈ −84%

What happened

1. Jan–Mar

   Facebook, Google and Twitter introduce restrictions on cryptocurrency advertising.

2. Feb 6

   The price falls to around $6,000, down about 70% from its December peak.

3. Early 2018

   The Lightning Network begins running on the main Bitcoin network in beta form.

4. Aug

   The SEC again rejects Bitcoin ETF proposals, pushing the idea of a US ETF years into the future.

5. Late Nov

   A contentious Bitcoin Cash split coincides with a sharp sell-off, and Bitcoin slides below $4,000.

6. Dec 15

   The year’s low of about $3,200 is reached, roughly 84% below the 2017 peak.

Why it mattered

The winter cleared out speculators and weaker projects. Development, custody and compliance infrastructure kept advancing, and it later underpinned institutional entry.

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