In the cryptocurrency market, three major bull cycles are typically distinguished (for 2024). Each had its own characteristics, growth factors, and popular sectors. Let's examine them in detail.
1. The Bull Cycle of 2011–2013
Characteristics:
Annual Bitcoin Price Growth: from $1 to over $1,100.
Key Driver: Awareness of the potential of decentralized finance and the first cryptocurrencies as alternative payment systems.
Adoption Level: Low. The market mainly attracted enthusiasts and programmers.
Key Events:
Emergence of Exchanges: Launch of the first cryptocurrency exchanges like Mt.Gox.
Focus on Bitcoin: Main interest was solely on Bitcoin as the market pioneer.
The First Altcoins: Litecoin (2011) became one of the first significant alternatives to Bitcoin.
Popular Sectors:
Payment Systems: Initial experiments using cryptocurrencies for transactions.
Mining: Sharp rise in the popularity of mining using GPUs.
2. The Bull Cycle of 2017
Characteristics:
Annual Bitcoin Growth: from $1,000 to $20,000.
Drivers: Market expansion due to ICOs (Initial Coin Offering).
Adoption Level: Medium. Attracted significant media attention, institutional investors, and speculators.
Key Events:
ICO Boom: Projects launched their tokens to raise capital, such as Ethereum (ETH), which became a platform for smart contracts.
Focus on Altcoins: XRP, Ethereum, Litecoin became mainstream.
Technological Innovations: Emergence of smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, leading to a boom in decentralized applications.
Popular Sectors:
ICOs and Tokenization: Projects raised millions of dollars, promising innovations.
Smart Contracts: Development of platforms based on blockchain (Ethereum, NEO, Cardano).
Gaming Sector: The first cryptocurrency games (CryptoKitties).
3. The Bull Cycle of 2020–2021
Characteristics:
Annual Bitcoin Growth: from $10,000 to over $69,000.
Drivers: Growth of institutional interest and new sectors such as DeFi and NFTs.
Adoption Level: High. Institutional investors are involved (Tesla, MicroStrategy).
Key Events:
Institutional Adoption: Bitcoin purchases by large corporations, launch of Bitcoin ETFs.
DeFi Boom: Development of decentralized finance applications (Uniswap, Aave, Compound).
NFT Popularity: Growing interest in unique digital assets (OpenSea platforms, Bored Ape Yacht Club collections).
Solana and Ethereum Competitors: Success of blockchains with low fees.
Popular Sectors:
DeFi: Lending and trading protocols without intermediaries.
NFT: Art, in-game items, collections.
Layer 1 Blockchains: Solana, Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche.
4. Conclusions and Forecasts
Each cycle develops based on new technologies and increasing investor attention.
Innovation plays an important role: from payment systems to decentralized applications, NFTs, and DeFi.
The next cycle may focus on AI technologies, real applications of Web3, and the integration of cryptocurrencies into the traditional economy.
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