Top 10 Crypto Events of 2024: Bitcoin ETF Launch, Hamster Kombat Success, and $100K BTC

Spot Bitcoin ETFs Approved in the US

On January 11, 2024, the SEC approved the launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF. This allowed large funds, companies, and ordinary retail investors to get involved in the world of cryptocurrencies by buying traditional BTC-based ETFs on US exchanges.

There were eleven such instruments in total – from Ark Invest/21Shares, Bitwise, BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Grayscale, Invesco, Valkyrie, VanEck and WisdomTree. Moreover, the release was more than successful.

To date, such ETFs have seen net inflows of $35.4 billion, while BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has become the fastest-growing ETF in the history of the market.

Bitcoin’s $1.2 Million Error

That same month, a very strange event occurred: an anonymous Bitcoin user sent 26.9 BTC, equivalent to $1.2 million, to a cryptocurrency address that was the first address created on the blockchain.

It was owned by a Bitcoin developer named Satoshi Nakamoto, whose identity remains unknown to this day. And since Satoshi has disappeared and does not use his wallets, this crypto can essentially be considered discarded.

Coinbase crypto exchange representative Conor Grogan commented on the news. Here is his reply, as quoted by Decrypt .

Either Satoshi suddenly woke up, bought 27 bitcoins on Binance and sent them to his old wallet, or someone just burned a million dollars.

Sentence for Sam Bankman-Fried

In March, the former head of crypto exchange FTX was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Sam Bankman-Fried was charged with fraud and other crimes, as the management of the platform and related trading firm Alameda Research used users’ funds without their knowledge.

The money was used to conduct trade deals, invest in real estate, finance election campaigns of politicians, and much more. As a result, users lost billions of dollars in crypto assets, for which the top brass of this crypto empire had to answer.

The fourth halving in Bitcoin history

On April 20, 2024, the Bitcoin network went through another halving. This is a procedure for reducing the rewards of miners for each block mined within the blockchain.

Before the specified number, ASIC owners received 6.25 BTC for each block, and now the figure has dropped to 3.125 coins. Accordingly, the overall emission rate of the first cryptocurrency has also dropped by 50 percent.

FBI Cryptocurrency Warning

In mid-spring, the FBI raised the issue of cryptocurrency. They recommended that Americans avoid interacting with cryptocurrency platforms that are not registered as financial institutions under federal law.

In this way, citizens could avoid unnecessary financial and legal risks. In addition, they were advised not to use platforms that do not confirm the identity of their clients during the so-called KYC procedure.

Here is a remark on this matter.

Cryptocurrency funds transfer services that knowingly violate the law or knowingly facilitate illegal transactions will inevitably come to the attention of law enforcement. By using services that ignore their legal obligations, you risk losing access to your funds if those companies become the target of law enforcement operations.

Launch of Hamster Kombat and success of Telegram clickers

At the end of September, the main topic of discussion in the crypto industry was the release of the HMSTR token from the clicker project Hamster Kombat. And although the distribution turned out to be very large-scale — more than 300 million people managed to play the game — the amount of coins awarded was insignificant.

In addition, the HMSTR rate dropped significantly after the launch due to the huge number of token holders. This, in turn, forced novice investors to get rid of coins, which put even more pressure on the rate of the latter.

However, the Telegram Open Network (TON) has proven its serious potential thanks to an event of this size and has found itself on the radar of many advanced crypto users.

The fight of Norwegian residents against miners

Residents of the Norwegian town of Stokmarknes spent three years trying to shut down a local bitcoin miner due to complaints about constant noise. Eventually, the enterprise, run by KryptoVault, ceased operations.

And while miners can be annoying due to their loud operation, they can also absorb excess energy, thereby stabilizing what is happening on the network and reducing costs for ordinary users.

The Norwegians eventually learned this in practice. After the cessation of crypto mining, the local energy company Noranett raised its prices by more than 20 percent. The reason for this was the closure of the aforementioned enterprise and financial losses for the giant.

Deferred payments from bankrupt exchange Mt.Gox

The bankrupt crypto exchange Mt.Gox, which was hacked and lost 850 thousand bitcoins, was supposed to make payments to creditors by October 31, 2024. Moreover, some users have already received payments in BTC and Bitcoin Cash.

However, it was not possible to meet the specified deadlines. Therefore, the payment period was extended until October 31, 2025.

Donald Trump’s Victory in the US Presidential Elections

One of the main achievements of the coin industry was its active support by Donald Trump. After all, the politician promised to provide adequate regulation for the industry, fire the current SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, and turn the United States into the cryptocurrency capital of the world.

Trump also became the first president to conduct a transaction on the Bitcoin network, and has spoken about creating a national BTC reserve for the United States, which would involve the government buying a million coins. It is believed that this idea could even affect the standard cycles of the crypto market.

Well, Donald Trump’s victory became the reason for a sharp growth of the coin industry. During it, Bitcoin for the first time in its history reached the level of 100 thousand dollars – this happened on December 5, 2024.

MicroStrategy’s Billion-Dollar BTC Purchases

Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy has continued to be the largest Bitcoin holder and has consolidated its position. For example, the company has been buying huge amounts of BTC every Monday for the past six weeks.

Thus, today the giant owns 444,262 coins, into which $27.7 billion was invested.

In addition, MicroStrategy has unveiled a plan called “21/21.” It involves raising $42 billion to invest in the first cryptocurrency. So, BTC purchases will continue.