SAMANTHA POBLACION
On the eve of December 17, 2017, the price of the world’s first and most-traded virtual or cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, reached an all-time high of $19,783.21 since the publication of Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper on the use of Bitcoin in 2009, when each coin had practically no value. The phenomenal increase made “hodlers” (the crypto space jargon for long-time Bitcoin holders) millionaires. Even as the price later dropped, plateauing at just below $7,700.00, the trading volume has consistently risen to what is now almost $5 billion in a 24-hour cycle as of this writing.