Written by: Gyro Finance
2024 is an exciting year for the crypto industry. In this year, cryptocurrencies have entered the mainstream and upgraded, institutionalization, compliance and politicization have become the core narratives, Bitcoin's headline of $100,000 announced the end of the stigma of the crypto market, digital gold is shining, and a new cycle is slowly opening.
But crypto is much more than Bitcoin, and the market is not just about institutions. The shift in the spotlight records the changes of this year. Bitcoin is very active on the stage, but it is not always the protagonist. Every month of this year, the crypto market will usher in new topics and headlines. Technologies, projects, communities, and figures have appeared one after another, running through the ups and downs of 2024, and also writing a rich and colorful footnote for the arrival of 2025.
Looking back on the past year and welcoming the new year, the crypto market still has great potential and unlimited future potential.
Bitcoin spot ETF approved in January
In January, spot ETFs allowed institutions to officially board the Noah's Ark of the crypto world. On January 10, Eastern Time, the U.S. SEC announced that 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs were officially approved for listing. The approved spot Bitcoin ETF issuers include Grayscale, Bitwise, Hashdex, iShares, Valkyrie, Ark 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, VanEck, WisdomTre, Fidelity and Franklin.
For the crypto market, the Bitcoin ETF is undoubtedly a historic feat. After 10 years of protracted battles with the SEC, the crypto world finally received regulatory recognition, and the digital asset market entered a new chapter. After this, Bitcoin was officially recognized as a legal and compliant investment product, and massive funds from traditional institutions entered the market, further promoting the compliance development of the crypto market.
As of December 31, according to data from Coinglass and SOSOvalue, the total inflow of Bitcoin ETFs reached $35.27 billion, and the total net asset value exceeded $109.532 billion. However, with the continuous growth of Bitcoin ETFs, institutionalization has replaced the once-dominated miners and become the controller of Bitcoin prices. Perhaps this is the so-called change of the times.
Ethereum Cancun Upgrade in March
After a relatively dull February, Bitcoin and Ethereum came to the fore again in March. With the influx of ETFs, the price of Bitcoin continued to rise, successfully breaking through $70,000 on March 8, setting a three-year high. At the time, the market already believed that $70,000 was the high point of Bitcoin, and had not thought that it was just a silent milestone in price.
But looking at Ethereum, despite the concentrated narrative, the price is still mediocre. But as the industry leader, construction is the theme that Ethereum pays the most attention to. On March 13, Ethereum successfully completed the Cancun upgrade and successfully introduced the data unit Blob of Ethereum's scalability solution (protodanksharding), ushering in the era of fee reduction for Layer2.
So far, all mainstream Layer2s such as Optimism, Starknet, Base, zkSync, Zora, and Mode have adopted blobs. Blobscan data shows that since the Cancun upgrade, as of December 30, the total number of Ethereum blocks has exceeded 1.2 million, the total number of transactions is 2.4 million, and a total of 4.9 million blobs have been used. Blobs have saved 3,008 ETH in gas fees. However, it is worth noting that the liquidity of the L2 network is divided into multiple sub-networks, and the L2 fee reduction has seized part of the value of the main network, making the competition between Ethereum and L2 more obvious.
Bitcoin halving in April, Hong Kong virtual asset spot ETF approved
The most important thing in April is the Bitcoin halving. At 8:09 on April 20, Bitcoin successfully completed its fourth halving at block height 840000. The mining reward of the Bitcoin network was halved from 6.25BTC to 3.125BTC. The last halving occurred on May 11, 2020. The impact of halving on prices is undoubtedly long-term, and in terms of the affected groups, mining companies, as the main force of mining, have been most widely affected. Mining companies have set off a wave of integration, and the head effect has further intensified. Marathon, CleanSpark, Riot and other leading mining companies are competing to increase production capacity. High computing power equipment and low energy costs are used in a two-pronged approach. The industry competition has entered a white-hot stage, and some mining companies have begun to turn to the hotter AI field.
Another major event in April was the approval of the Hong Kong virtual asset spot ETF. On April 15, the first batch of virtual asset ETFs were publicly announced to be approved. On April 30, 6 Hong Kong virtual asset spot ETFs were listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. China Asset Management (Hong Kong), Bosera International and Harvest International were the main issuers. In fact, after the declaration in December 22, the Hong Kong Web3 market turned from hot to cold. Despite frequent policies, the market remained hesitant. The virtual asset ETF was an important milestone in Hong Kong. Therefore, before the announcement, despite the frequent market pessimism, it still held relatively bright hopes, and even believed that this move might be a precursor to the opening of the mainland. But the facts obviously poured cold water. Not only were the funding channels limited, but also affected by compliance costs, the virtual asset spot ETF had higher fees than similar products in the United States, and the fundraising of the two was far apart. According to SOSOVALU data, as of December 27, the total net asset weight of Hong Kong Bitcoin spot ETFs was only US$409 million, and the total number of bitcoins held was about 4,290. In June, the first anniversary of the official implementation of the new Hong Kong crypto regulations, many crypto-native exchanges failed, which also raised more questions in the market. It can be seen that Hong Kong Web3 still has a long way to go, but with the powerful energy of traditional finance, Hong Kong still has hope to overtake on the curve, and stablecoins and RWA will become the key paths for Hong Kong in 2025.
Ethereum spot ETF survived in May, CZ risk hearing
In May, the focus returned to Ethereum. The Ethereum spot ETF, which was thought to be hopeless, survived and became the dark horse of this year. On May 24, according to official documents, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the plans of the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and Nasdaq for spot Ethereum ETFs, namely the issuer's Ethereum spot ETF 19b-4 (Exchange Rule Change) application. Compared with Bitcoin, the approval of Ethereum's key processes reflects more changes in attitudes at the regulatory level. It not only eliminates the historical burden of its securities attributes, but also symbolizes the openness of U.S. regulation. Other decentralized projects are expected to usher in regulatory relief, and also timely rescue the crypto market that is within reach under the siphon effect of Bitcoin. Looking at every round of bull market, Ethereum's rise spillover is the key sign of sector rotation. On July 23, the Ethereum spot ETF was officially approved. According to Coinglass data, as of now, the total cumulative inflow of Ethereum spot ETF has reached US$2.68 billion, and the total net asset value exceeds US$12.11 billion. But it can be seen that Ethereum is far from being as attractive as Bitcoin in the eyes of institutions.
The headline figure in May is undoubtedly CZ. After the sky-high settlement last year, CZ had a sentencing hearing this month. As early as April, in order to support this representative figure, the crypto community launched a massive support, with 161 letters of support headed by his wife He Yi sent to the court, witnessing the precious trust and sincerity in the currency circle. This move eventually won. Compared with SBF's sentence of more than a hundred years, the four-month sentence is not too long. On September 28 this year, CZ was released from prison, and BNB rose first to show its respect, reflecting its strong community influence.
June LayerZero and ZKsync airdrops sparked controversy
In June, airdrops became the main theme of the market. The LayerZero witch hunt triggered widespread discussion, and for the first time, the direct conflict between the project and the money laundering party was intensified. Even the money laundering party, which was evolving towards professionalization, institutionalization, and scale, did not have an advantage in the offensive and defensive aspects of the project. On the other hand, although ZKsync was controversial due to its rat warehouse, the new standard for fund retention it brought also left a profound impact on subsequent airdrops. In the long run, the reduction of short odds, the increase in complexity, and the increase in investment funds will become the trend of airdrops. It has to be admitted that the threshold for individuals to get rich through airdrops will become higher and higher. In addition, the weakening of macro expectations and the surrender of miners also directly led to the first 6.18 earthquake in the crypto market this year. Bitcoin fell below $65,000 at the time, and most altcoins fell by more than 20%.
The 7.5-day drop in July, VC tokens are caught in public opinion, and Trump’s life photos are released
After June 18, July 5 took over again. Under the influence of the Mentougou repayment and the German government's purchase of coins, the crypto market once again ushered in a wash, and Bitcoin fell below $60,000, and the price returned to the level at the end of February. Since then, until mid-month, the term bull market seemed to have disappeared in the crypto market, and complaints became a reality. VC tokens and exchanges were the first to bear the brunt, and the vortex of public opinion continued to ferment. But on July 16, Trump's life photo was released, which not only illuminated his personal election path, but also brought hope to the crypto market. After that, Trump appeared at the Bitcoin Conference, and his ten promises, such as strategic reserves, the US Crypto Center, and the resignation of the SEC Chairman, were deafening, and successfully won the support of the crypto world.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest in August made headlines
In August, Telegram made headlines, dealing a heavy blow to the TON ecosystem. On the evening of August 24, French TV revealed that Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested at a French airport. On the day of the incident, Toncoin fell nearly 11% in 24 hours, and TON TVL fell as much as 57.62% in a single day. Given TON's independent ecological attributes, prices recovered quickly after the short-term impact. However, the Telegram incident also made the market start to think about decentralized social networking again. Under the banner of defending freedom of speech, finding a balance between order and freedom is the next goal of the crypto market.
In September, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in four years, starting a cycle of interest rate cuts
In September, the interest rate cut that the crypto market had long waited for finally arrived as expected. On September 18, local time, the Federal Reserve announced that it would lower the target range of the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to a level between 4.75% and 5.00%. This is also the first interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in 4 years. This marks the official transition of the United States from the tightest interest rate hike cycle in 40 years since 2022 to a rate cut cycle. As of now, the Federal Reserve has successfully implemented three consecutive interest rate cuts, and the target range of the federal funds rate has reached 4.25%-4.50%. The cumulative reduction of the Federal Reserve in this round of interest rate cuts has reached 100 basis points. It must be admitted that macro easing has provided a solid foundation for the rise of the crypto market.
The US election in October and November is the main theme, and "Bitcoin President" Trump enters the White House
In October and November, the political circle was the headline in the crypto field. On November 5, the world's spotlight was on the US election. Trump successfully won more than half of the electoral votes, locked in the victory of this US presidential election, and officially became the 47th president of the United States. The coming to power of the Bitcoin president sounded the clarion call for the bull market, and with the background of the most crypto-supportive Congress in history, crypto regulation also ushered in a new era. Subsequently, Bitcoin soared all the way, breaking through $90,000 in November, surpassing silver for the first time to become the world's eighth largest asset by market value. On the other hand, Dogecoin also took advantage of the situation. The initial establishment of the Government Efficiency Department led by Musk made PolitiFi very popular. In addition, there were constant hot spots in November. The theft of DEXX cast a haze on the Chinese MEME circle, the DeSci track jumped under the celebrity effect of CZ and V God, Sun Yuchen's sky-high banana went viral in traditional media, and the derivative dark horse Hyperliquid's native token HYPE went online. All these events brought FOMO to the crypto world.
South Korea's martial law in December, Bitcoin breaks through $100,000, SEC chairman changes
At the beginning of December, the martial law in South Korea dominated the headlines, Bitcoin plunged 30% in a short period of time, and XRP plummeted 60%, allowing the world to witness the influence of political situation on the crypto field. But it is worth noting that a large amount of funds poured into Upbit to successfully pick up leaks and wrong orders, which is sometimes the key to making a small profit.
On December 5, Bitcoin reached a historic milestone, officially breaking through the $10 mark and embarking on the road to six figures. It not only vindicated the reputation of digital gold, but also officially gained the world’s recognition of its value storage function, achieving the transformation from experiment to asset and then to good asset, announcing the phased victory of the financial experiment initiated by Satoshi Nakamoto.
The prerequisite for achieving this goal is favorable policies. As he approaches taking office, President Trump also begins to announce personnel arrangements and policy strategies. Throughout December, the crypto market speculation focused on Trump. First of all, SEC Chairman Gary Gansler, who has been suffering from crypto for a long time, announced that he will resign on the President’s Day. The new SEC Chairman will be Paul Atkins, nominated by Trump. With the official nomination on December 5, the crypto market has become more enthusiastic about this important issue. The new and experienced chairman, who is obviously pro-crypto and experienced, priced in advance and took advantage of the trend to allow Bitcoin to reach $100,000.
Good news continued. On December 6, Trump nominated David O. Sacks as the White House Director of Cryptocurrency and Artificial Intelligence. This was the first time that the crypto field entered the White House, and it was listed alongside the strategic industry of artificial intelligence, which fully demonstrated Trump's emphasis on the crypto field. Institutions heard the news and altcoin ETFs were put on the agenda. The altcoin season also quietly arrived, and the crypto market sector generally rose. The FOMO mood was briefly interrupted. On December 11, Microsoft shareholders voted against the Bitcoin investment proposal. Coupled with the sudden emergence of quantum chips that caused industry concerns, Bitcoin suffered a sharp drop, and the market gradually moved towards sideways fluctuations.
The last good news before Christmas is that Microstrategy has landed on the Nasdaq 100 Index. As the first crypto component stock to be included in the index, Microstrategy reflects the continued growing influence of the crypto field. It not only broadens investor channels, but also marks a watershed for crypto companies to enter the traditional financial world.
Christmas is here as expected, and the news has come to an abrupt end. Funds are conservatively flowing back, and the market is mostly in a downward trend. However, it is obvious that the crypto bull market has just begun, Trump has not officially taken office, and the macro environment continues to improve. The 2024 of the dragon in the abyss is about to pass, and 2025, seeing the dragon in the field may be the next step for the crypto market.
