Now that the year comes to an end, I want reflect on the three biggest Crypto related hypes of 2017.
ICO frency
The ICO madness actually started back in 2016 when TheDAO raised over $150 Million worth of Ether. But it wasn't until early 2017 that the frency took off. In 2017 a total of seven ICO projects raised over $80 Million Dollar. Reason for this was people viewing ICOs as getting-rich-quick-scheme because tokens shot up in price after hitting the exchanges. The ICO mania is still somewhat going on to this day, but the hype has notably decreased since the first half of 2017.
Cryptokitties
At the beginning of December, Cryptokitties, an online collectible game, was so hyped, it even clogged up the Ethereum network due to transaction overflow. Virtual images of cats were sold for up to 240 ETH (worth over $100,000 at the time), but later the hype was gone almost as fast as it started.
Bitcoin Futures
Another highly anticipated event was the introduction of Bitcoin Futures. While it ended up being rather unspectacular, the release of tradable Future contracts was the #1 crypto event people were looking forward to in 2017. Although its impact has been rather limited so far, it will pave the way for ETFs and ultimately a more stable Crypto environment.