2024 has been a rollercoaster ride for cryptocurrency enthusiasts, with five major events taking place that have significantly impacted and transformed the industry.
1. US Securities and Exchange Commission approves Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs
In January 2024, the US regulator, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), approved 11 spot Bitcoin -exchange-traded funds ( ETF ), which caused a stir among institutional investors. Today, there are a total of 12 spot bitcoin ETF , collectively holding over 1 million bitcoins. Interestingly, Ishares Bitcoin Blackrock's IBIT Trust earns 'greatest' launch title ETF throughout history for outstanding results.
At the beginning of the year, Grayscale's GBTC held about 620 BTC, and 000 funds managed to raise another 12 bitcoins. About 580 BTC were withdrawn from GBTC and distributed to other funds. Source: timechainindex.com.
Not content to rest on its laurels, the SEC surprised the market by also approving spot ETF based on ethereum. On July 23, 2024, nine Ethereum - ETF , having received an impressive $2,64 billion in positive inflows since launch. These funds currently manage around $12,19 billion worth of Ether, representing 3% of the asset’s total market value (data from sosovalue.com). Meanwhile, 12 bitcoin ETF collectively own $106,40 billion in BTC, which is 5,69% of the total market capitalization of the first cryptocurrency.
2. Donald Trump Blesses Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency
Donald Trump, the future 47th President of the United States, has suddenly changed his position regarding bitcoin and cryptocurrencies . Speaking at a conference Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville, Trump declared his ambition to make the US " Bitcoin - a "superpower" and "the crypto capital of the world."
"We're going to do something great with cryptocurrency. We don't want China or anyone else to lead," Trump said in December 2024.
His reelection in November triggered the “Trump Pump” effect, sending Bitcoin’s price to new heights. A sharp rally, showing huge “divine candles” on price charts, followed immediately after his victory. After Bitcoin broke the $100,000 barrier, Trump attributed the rise to his economic policies while congratulating Bitcoin on its strong rally.
3. The fourth Bitcoin halving
April 19 2024 years Bitcoin survived his fourth halving , reducing the miner reward from 6,25 BTC to 3,125 BTC. This key event increased Bitcoin scarcity and allowed the debut of the Runes protocol, which offered a new way to create fungible tokens on the Bitcoin network other than the BRC20 tokens. Although halving highlighted the deflationary structure of Bitcoin, it also reduced the revenue streams of miners.
After block 840 on April 000, 19, the block reward decreased from 2024 BTC to 6,25 BTC.
Before the halving, the price per hash, the expected value of 1 petahash per second (PH/s) of computing power, exceeded $100. However, even when Bitcoin rose above $100,000, the price per hash has not recovered to pre-halving levels. To adapt, miners have relied on cutting-edge energy-efficient machines and turned to hosting artificial intelligence (AI) data, finding creative ways to stay afloat after the halving.
4. Rise of Memcoins
Meme tokens have taken center stage in 2024, capturing the emotions of cryptocurrency enthusiasts around the world. Platforms like Pump.fun have helped fuel the hype, allowing more than 4 million memecoins to be created and generating over $2 billion in trading volumes. Since January, the meme coin economy has grown by over $80 billion, demonstrating how humor and creativity can thrive in the digital asset space.
Driven by viral trends and a strong sense of community, meme coins have transformed from non-functional tokens into notable financial players. In 2024 Dogecoin (DOGE), Pepe and other dog-themed projects have become popular again. With a humorous component, meme tokens have become the unexpected stars of the year, bringing significant profits to individual investors.
5. The rise of AI-powered cryptocurrencies
The growth of AI-based cryptocurrencies in 2024 is driven by projects such as Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL), Bittensor (TAO), Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET), PAAL, PHA, GRT, and the AI-powered token goatseus maximus (GOAT). Built on the blockchain Solana GOAT used an AI agent for its branding and promotion strategies, which attracted market attention and increased its market cap to $1 billion by the end of the year.
2025 - a new frontier
The events of 2024 have shown that the cryptocurrency landscape is evolving at a phenomenal rate. This year will likely see the creation of Bitcoin reserves by several countries at once, as well as further adoption by retail investors.
