- The SEC’s approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs in January led to record-breaking adoption, with BlackRock’s fund alone accumulating over US$51 billion in Bitcoin holdings.
- Donald Trump transformed from a crypto sceptic to an advocate, promising to make the US a global crypto leader after winning the November presidential election.
- Bitcoin achieved several new all-time highs in 2024, first reaching US$73k in March before surging to US$108k in December following Trump’s victory.
- Major institutions embraced crypto throughout the year, with Morgan Stanley offering Bitcoin ETFs to wealthy clients and UBS launching an Ethereum-based money market fund.
If you had to describe the 2024 crypto-year in one short sentence, it would probably be something along these lines: 2024 started with a bang and ended with one (of sorts).
On January 10, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), news that would dominate headlines throughout 2024.
Additionally, Donald Trump’s re-election sparked an unprecedented Bitcoin rally, culminating in a new all-time high of US$108,268 (AU$174,154) on December 18.
Related: Analysts Say If This Happens It Could ‘Trap Bears’ Sending Prices Higher
What else happened in this remarkable year? Let’s take a trip down memory lane.
Quarter 1 – The Most Successful ETF Launch in History
The approval of the 11 Spot ETFs in the US was exciting and a game changer. The BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (with the ticker IBIT) led the pack and broke all records.
In the short 11 months, this fund has amassed US$51.2 billion (AU$82.3 billion) in Bitcoin holdings, or 552,554 BTC, 2.63% of all Bitcoin supply. Together, the ETFs surpassed US$100 billion (US$104.6 billion or AU$168.2 billion to be precise) in holdings – a total of 5.37% of all the Bitcoin ever to be in existence.
No other single ETF or group of ETFs has ever had a better start – which could be a sign of things to come in 2025.
There had also been early signs of Donald Trump turning his previously negative stance on the industry when he made comments that “many people are embracing it”.
More and more, I’m seeing people wanting to pay Bitcoin. And you’re seeing something interesting, so I could live with it […] one way or the other.
Donald TrumpMarch saw an ATH for Bitcoin at US$73,079 (AU$118,549), which would be the high until October.
Quarter 2 – Governments Selling Bitcoin
In April heads turned east as Hong Kong regulators approved the first local Bitcoin and Ethereum Spot ETFs. It was also the month of the Bitcoin halving and that of Consensys suing the SEC for clarity over the treatment of Ethereum.
In May, Donald Trump said he’d accept crypto donations for his campaign and also promised to free Ross Ulbricht and stop any advancement on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
On May 23, the SEC approved 8 Ethereum ETFs for trading on US exchanges.
June saw one of the biggest stories of the year, one which left the crypto community baffled: The German Government started selling its Bitcoin stash. It ended up selling over 50,000 BTC worth over US$2.5 billion (AU$4 billion).
Related: German State Ends BTC Sale, as Market Experiences Uptick
Ironically, global Bitcoin reserve discussions have since sparked a debate about the country’s role and the possibility of being left behind.
Quarter 3 – Trump The Crypto Friend
In July, Mt.Gox started moving billions worth of Bitcoin earmarked for redistribution following a ten-year-long bankruptcy process. Later in the month, it was time for Trump’s memorable appearance at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
To the cheers of the crowd, Trump promised to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet and the Bitcoin superpower of the world”, and said he’d fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler on “day one” of his presidency.
Meanwhile, sitting president Joe Biden dropped out of the race for the White House and Kamala Harris stepped in. Her team reportedly reached out to the crypto industry and Harris promised to make the US “dominant in blockchain”.
Related: Caught Off-Guard by the XRP Rally? Aussie Analyst Reveals Next Altcoin to Pump
In August Morgan Stanley allowed its 15,000 wealth advisors to start pitching Spot Bitcoin ETFs to their clients with a net worth of over US$1.5 million (AU$2.4 million).
The month also brought a crash across all markets, including crypto, which wiped out many traders. The reasons behind the crash were mainly seen in the Yen carry trade, but also in a tech and AI bubble.
Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram was arrested in France, while in September Swift commenced testing asset tokenisation, another big trend of 2024.
Quarter 4 – A Pro-Crypto Election Win and an Aggressive Buying Strategy
In October the SEC gave the green light for options trading for multiple Spot Bitcoin ETFs which was a major step for the market.
MicroStrategy ramped up its Bitcoin buying toward the end of 2024, while Japanese Metaplanet followed Michael Saylor’s playbook and had become the MicroStrategy of the East.
Related: Metaplanet, MicroStrategy Make Bitcoin Buys Their Christmas Gift to Shareholders!
November saw Swiss banking giant UBS get into the tokenisation business, launching a money market fund on Ethereum.
On November 6, Donald Trump wins the US presidential election and kicks off a rally that sees the whole crypto market surge, taking Bitcoin from US$68k (AU$109.2k) to the high of US$108k (AU$173.4k), a 51% surge in 41 days.
All in all, it was a tumultuous 2024, with many new developments and broader adoption, especially from institutional players. And while Bitcoin went from US$42k (AU$67.4k) to currently US$92k (AU$147.7k) – a 118% increase year-on-year – altcoins haven’t done as well, or at least most altcoins.
Because 2024 was also the year of the meme coin, but that’s probably the topic for another day…
So, maybe 2025 is going to be the year of altcoins, we sure are about to find out…Happy New Year!
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