Bitcoin had a big year: ETF, institutional adoption, political battles, and even meme coins. Here is a Bitcoin shortage in 2024.
It was a year unlike any other for Bitcoin, from new technological advancements and historical milestones to finding a home on Wall Street and being used as political football in the U.S. elections.
Here’s a look at the year that was for the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin ETF, a decade in waiting
The Securities and Exchange Commission had spent a decade saying 'no' to major asset managers wishing to offer a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, the once-elusive Bitcoin ETF, to their clients in the United States. But the mood changed when the world's largest asset manager, BlackRock, applied to the SEC for its own Bitcoin ETF in June 2023.
An ETF is an investment vehicle that allows its buyers to gain exposure to an asset without buying and storing the asset directly. Gold ETFs, for example, have been a thing for a long time, providing investors the convenience of investing in gold without worrying about finding a place to securely store physical bars or coins.
But the SEC had been cautious about allowing such a thing for Bitcoin, denying applications time and again on the grounds that the cryptocurrency market could be easily manipulated.
Industry analysts thought BlackRock jumping in and lending its weight would finally be what pushed the regulator to give the green light. And it turned out it was. On January 10, the SEC-approved Bitcoin ETFs launched, with 10 trading the next day. The U.S. market finally had a way for mom-and-pop retail investors to put a little money into Bitcoin without dealing with cryptocurrency exchanges, wallets, and seed phrases. It was huge and had a bigger impact than even the most optimistic Bitcoin advocates imagined.
All-time highs
No one, not even those whose job it is to analyze the ETF niche market, expected such a loving start once trading began. Money quickly flowed into the funds. Investors previously shut out from the world of crypto investing could suddenly buy shares on stock exchanges that tracked the price of Bitcoin.
The asset hit an all-time high just above $73,000 in March, according to data from CoinGecko. But it wasn’t an easy ride. Many macroeconomic factors, not to mention government confiscations and major crypto moves, weighed on Bitcoin throughout the year.