Although 2018 is shaping up to be the year of the altcoin, especially XRP, better known as ripple, the market isn’t done with bitcoin. The bitcoin price broke through the $16,000 level on Friday as ripple coins continued to retreat. There were several major bitcoin milestones met in 2017, and although the winds of change were blowing as the year came to a close, 2018 could bring a whole new set of milestones.

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Bitcoin milestones: “a legitimate economic force”

Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Graham described bitcoin as a “legitimate economic force” in a note to investors this week. The 1,370% increase in the cryptocurrency’s value in all of 2017 made it the fifth-largest currency in the world by amount in circulation—if lumping it in with the world’s fiat currencies—according to Graham. Only the U.S. dollar, euro, Chinese yuan and Japanese yen were bigger.

However, he also noted that Japan is the only country to recognize bitcoin as legal tender, which he said makes the cryptocurrency’s skyrocketing value “even more remarkable.” He added that the digital currency could even take further share of the world’s currency market as crypto enthusiasts look to fix scaling issues this year to make it more viable as a payment solution.

Tailwinds over headwinds for bitcoin

Graham also offered a list of potential tailwinds and headwinds for bitcoin in 2018 and clarified that he feels the tailwinds will end up being stronger than the headwinds, although he feels it was easier to identify more potential headwinds this year.

The potential tailwinds he sees this year pertain to some key bitcoin milestones from 2017. For example, two key institutional bitcoin milestones from 2017 were the addition of futures by CBOE and CME. Additionally, about 100 cryptofunds raised more than $2 billion in 2017, and Graham adds that many other firms are working on “cryptoasset custodial services.”