Looking back at 2024: Crypto’s transformation from trough to peak

Author: BitpushNews

After experiencing the cold winter of 2022, the encryption industry in 2024 has been reborn.

Even without Donald Trump’s grand slogan of “Cryptocapital of the Earth”, 2024 is destined to be an important event in the history of cryptocurrency development, as it is being integrated into the mainstream financial system at an unprecedented speed.

Patrick Kirby, policy advisor of the Crypto Innovation Committee, said at an industry conference in 2024: "The approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs and Ethereum ETFs is undoubtedly an important turning point in the development of the industry. Looking back on the history of cryptocurrency, we have to marvel Because of its rapid development.”

With Bitcoin breaking 100,000, and a series of key regulatory developments and election results, cryptocurrency will undoubtedly play a more important role in the future political and economic arena. The editorial team of this article will take you to review some important developments in the cryptocurrency field in the past 12 months.

Mainstream rushes to embrace cryptocurrencies

Crypto is moving more firmly into the mainstream, and the most obvious evidence of this is that traditional financial giants are opening their arms to embrace this emerging asset class - and its medium is the favored investment tool: exchange-traded funds (ETFs) .

ETFs, which are funds that trade on exchanges like stocks, cleverly build a bridge that allows investors to easily participate and enjoy the growth dividends of the cryptocurrency market without directly holding digital assets.

In January 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) historically approved the listing and trading of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs, ushering in a new era of cryptocurrency investment in the United States.

According to Bitcoin.com statistics, as of December 24, the US spot Bitcoin ETF holdings exceeded 1.13 million BTC in less than a year, which shows its ability to attract gold.

The Ethereum ETF also performed well, attracting an inflow of US$14.28 billion, accounting for 2.93% of Ethereum's market capitalization, becoming a highlight in the cryptocurrency investment field this year.

The boom in ETFs is clear evidence of mainstream institutions’ growing acceptance of cryptocurrencies. As ETF.com senior analyst Sumit Roy foresees, "It is conceivable that spot Bitcoin ETFs may even account for 10%, 20%, or even higher proportions of Bitcoin's market capitalization in the future."

Memecoin breaks the circle and creates wealth effect

Memecoin’s wealth creation effect and cultural output once again confirm the powerful power of “entertainment first” in the Internet era. In the wave of cryptocurrency moving toward institutionalization and professionalization, Memecoin is a trend that cannot be ignored.

According to Artemis data, Meme coin will be the third largest profit narrative in 2024, with an average annual return of 201%, far exceeding the market's average return of 128%.

For example, after Fartcoin was launched in October, its valuation quickly climbed to US$836 million; the Patriot token, which came into being due to Trump's re-election, soared 626% in just one week, with a market value exceeding US$73 million. Its community They even spent huge sums of money to build a 22-foot-tall bronze statue of Trump to celebrate this "victory." The magic of Memecoin is evident.

The technical support behind the Memecoin craze is Solana. With its high performance and low cost advantages, it has attracted 89% of new Memecoin projects to take root here, becoming a veritable fertile ground for Memecoin.

Encryption influences “politics”

The 2024 presidential election will transform cryptocurrency’s status from a niche movement to a powerful player in American politics.

The cryptocurrency industry hit a record $238 million in donations this election season, according to data compiled by blockchain analytics platform Breadcrumbs and FOX Business.

Some campaign ads did not mention cryptocurrencies, and some public welfare advocacy groups criticized this. Public Citizen author Ray Claypool said: "This money tsunami is a naked example of for-profit enterprises putting private economic priorities ahead of the public interest." attempt".

Crypto user numbers surge to all-time high

According to Token Terminal, the number of cryptocurrency holders reached 18.7 million as of early December. The industry is also attracting a wider variety of investors.

Coinbase research reports that cryptocurrency holders don’t vote uniformly and aren’t always the “tech guy in a hoodie” stereotype. The study found that 18% of cryptocurrency holders are moms, 10% are small business owners, and 41% listen to country music.

legislative progress

A piece of cryptocurrency legislation that has been brewing for nearly a year was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in May this year, marking a key step in regulating digital assets in the United States. This bill, called the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21), was passed in a rare gesture of bipartisanship and is particularly noteworthy. In the increasingly partisan U.S. political arena, 71 Democratic congressmen and more than 200 Republican congressmen voted in favor of the bill, fully demonstrating the importance of the bill. Patrick Kirby of the Cryptocurrency Innovation Council said that the passage of this market structure bill is "an important turning point in the development of the industry."

The FIT21 bill aims to provide cryptocurrency companies with clearer regulatory guidance on which digital assets should be classified as securities and which should be classified as commodities, ending the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) The “tug of war” over cryptocurrency regulation has cleared obstacles for industry development.

The bill is currently submitted to the Senate for consideration. Some analysts believe that the Senate may introduce more forward-looking legislation on this basis to better deal with the challenges brought by the rapidly developing digital asset market, such as the regulation of stable coins. .

US states ready to embrace cryptocurrencies

Bitui previously reported that U.S. Representative Derek Merrin of Ohio proposed a bill to establish a Bitcoin reserve in the state treasury and authorize the state government to invest in Bitcoin. In fact, Ohio is not alone. Pennsylvania and Texas have also passed similar bills, indicating that some U.S. state governments are actively exploring the possibility of incorporating cryptocurrencies into their fiscal strategies.

Texas Congressman Giovanni Capriglione bluntly stated that inflation is "the biggest enemy of our investments." He believes that establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve will be a "win-win" move for the state government. This view was echoed by some other legislators. The scarcity of Bitcoin gives it certain anti-inflation properties, which is an important reason why some lawmakers support its inclusion in state fiscal reserves.

Although there are still many challenges on the way forward, the trend of mainstreaming is irreversible. We have reason to expect that in the near future, cryptocurrencies will play an even more important role in the global economy and politics.