Top 10 Crypto Moments of 2024

2024 is drawing to a close, and the crypto world will remember a year that brought some historic moments for the community.

The growth of Bitcoin as the largest cryptocurrency, institutional acceptance and regulation, and historic growth after the election of Donald Trump as president of the USA - are only some of the events that marked the crypto year.

tether.bet brings you a choice of TOP 10 crypto moments in 2024.

10. AI + NFT

The year behind us brought the integration of AI (artificial intelligence) and NFT (Non-fungible token). It brought dynamic and interactive digital assets.

New possibilities are open for both collectors and creators.

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9. Expansions of the Decentralized Finance Ecosystem (DeFi) in 2024

DeFi, or Decentralized Finance, is an ecosystem of financial services that has been built on blockchain. It enables users to independently execute financial transactions without the interference of middlemen from traditional institutions, including banks, brokers, and insurance firms.

The full value locked in the DeFi sector reached new highs, while the year 2024 brought expansion with more innovations and wider use.

8. The rise of Solana Meme coins

2024 has indeed been the Year of Solana's Meme Coins in the crypto community. While meme coins are nothing new to Solana, places like Pump.fun drove interest into the stratosphere.

This momentum put the 4th position for investors regarding meme coins on Solana and accounted for 7.65% of the crypto narrative discussions, per CoinGecko.

The total market capitalization of Solana-based meme coins has also jumped above $16 billion. Three of the top five meme coins in the market, including WIF and BONK, run on the blockchain developed by Solana. WIF surged 1,100% this year, while BONK soared as much as 38,000% in two years.

7. SEC Approves Spot Bitcoin ETFs

The year starts with a breakthrough: Bitcoin ETFs finally go live in January, highly anticipated by institutional investors and retail traders alike. This is another pivotal step in the mainstream financial world moving to adopt Bitcoin.

With this launch, Bitcoin is getting even closer to traditional finance and raising its status as an asset class, opening wide doors for future crypto ETFs.

The year had started with the SEC approving 12 Spot Bitcoin ETFs, Bitcoin's first foray into US retail investment. The effect was instantaneous: retail investors poured millions into these funds. This made Bitcoin ETFs grow faster than any other set of ETFs in history.

6. Bitcoin Halving

Bitcoin halving is a pre-programmed event that slashes the reward for mining and verifying new blocks by 50%, whereby miners earn half the number of BTC per mined block.

This has been scheduled to occur once every 210,000 blocks, or once every four years, until the network reaches a cap of a total supply of 21 million BTC.

Since the launch of Bitcoin in 2009, the mining reward has reduced by half four times: once in November 2012 from 50 BTC to 25 BTC, then in July 2016 to 12.5 BTC, then again in May 2020 to 6.25 BTC, and most recently this April 2024, the reward was halved once more to 3,125 BTC per block.

The mentioned halving significantly contributes to the scarcity and inflation control of Bitcoin, meaning it will never reach more than 21 million coins total in circulation, accordingly with the deflationary principles.

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5. Resignation of Gary Gensler

Gary Gensler, since heading the commission in the SEC, was unbearably strict with regard to crypto space in America.

However, with Mr. Trump getting reelected, and with Tesla CEO Elon Musk at his team as big promoter of cryptocurrencies, the Commission undergoes extreme restructuring.

In November 2024, SEC chair Gary Gensler announced he was stepping down.

4. Meme Coins Domination

Meme Coins have dominated 2024, according to CoinGecko. In 2024, meme coins accounted for 31% of crypto-related search traffic.

That's almost every third search!

As 2024 comes to a close, the meme coin ecosystem is looking more potent.

3. Donald Trump’s Crypto Support

The USA Presidential candidate at the time announced his support for the crypto world and promised to make the USA the world's crypto capital.

"For too long, our government has violated the cardinal rule that every bitcoiner knows by heart: Never sell your bitcoin," Trump said at this years Bitcoin Conference in Nashville.

"This afternoon, I'm laying out my plan to make sure that the United States will be the crypto capital of the planet and the bitcoin superpower of the world, and we'll get it done," Trump said.

2. Donald Trump becomes USA president

Though it isn't on top of our list, the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential elections brought crypto markets to.

His crypto-friendly administration has achieved many crucial things even before he started the work as an official president.

Indeed, following Trump's victory, the crypto market gained close to $1 trillion when investors saw the slack in regulatory reins. Successively, Bitcoin jumped to new highs and reached the ultimate target of $100,000.

1. Bitcoin Breaks well over 100k

Indeed, the growth after the election of Donald Trump is remembered as the historical growth of Bitcoin. The most popular cryptocurrency crossed six figures and reached 100,000 US Dollars for the first time on December 5th.

The reaching of the six-figure mark reflects its maturation as a financial asset that boosts confidence in institutional and retail investment.

"The price action beyond the $100,000 mark is not a milestone but a defining point for the industry" - Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE.

The $100k valuation represents a 40% increase on US election day and more than double the price at which Bitcoin started the year. A staggering number!

Since the $100,000 milestone, more governments began considering the idea of a Bitcoin reserve for its store of Value. Even countries like Russia and Japan that once had a pessimistic perspective toward Crypto.

With Bitcoin finally reaching $100,000, it finally gained wider adoption from the public and private sectors, along with better legitimacy.