Author | Wu Blockchain
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Top 10 News of the Week
1. BTC Breaks $100,000 in 2024, Reaching a New Historic High
BTC reached a new historic high of $107,796 around 2:00 AM on December 17th. The BTC-to-Gold Ratio reached a historic high of 37.3, meaning that one BTC can now purchase about 37 ounces of gold. This indicator is often used to compare the relative strength and investor preferences between the two assets. Compared to the previous crypto bull market peak in November 2021 at 36.7, the current indicator is about half a percentage point higher. Sidney Powell, CEO and co-founder of institutional capital market Maple Finance, stated that "the new high indicates the continued adoption and maturity of BTC as an asset class."
2. BTC and ETH Spot ETFs Approved
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first BTC spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) on January 10, 2024, authorizing 11 ETFs to begin trading on January 11th. On the day of approval, BTC price briefly surpassed $47,000 but later retreated to around $45,000. As of December 27, 2024, the BTC price was around $96,178, more than doubling since the approval day.
Subsequently, the SEC approved multiple companies' ETH spot ETF applications on July 22, 2024, and these ETFs officially listed on the U.S. market on July 23rd. On the first trading day, ETH price was around $3,800. As of December 27, 2024, the ETH price was around $3,373, slightly lower than the listing day.
As of the editorial deadline, according to SoSoValue data, the total net asset value of BTC spot ETFs is $109.32 billion, accounting for 5.73% of BTC's total market cap, with a historical cumulative net inflow of $35.91 billion. The total net asset value of ETH spot ETFs is $12.12 billion, accounting for 2.99% of ETH's total market cap, with a historical cumulative net inflow of $2.6 billion.
3. Trump Wins Election and Strongly Supports Cryptocurrencies link
In the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump was successfully re-elected after four years, and in his victory speech, he clearly stated that he would promote the development of the cryptocurrency industry. He promised to formulate favorable regulatory policies for innovation, attract global blockchain companies to invest in the U.S., and propose to use blockchain technology for financial and government transparency reforms. This move was seen as an important policy turning point for the U.S. cryptocurrency field, and the market reacted positively, with BTC price quickly rising 3% after the news was released.
In actual action, Trump appointed David Sacks as the "AI and Cryptocurrency Czar" in the Trump administration, with the aim of promoting market development in the crypto field, supporting blockchain technology innovation, establishing a regulatory framework for the stablecoin market, and collaborating with regulators to simplify corporate compliance processes.
4. The Fed Initiates a Rate Cut Cycle in September
In September 2024, the Federal Reserve announced a 25-basis-point cut in the federal funds rate at the latest Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, marking the official start of this rate cut cycle. This is the first rate cut since 2022, indicating the Fed's policy response to slowing economic growth and easing inflation.
Fed Chair Powell stated in the press conference that recent economic data showed the labor market is gradually cooling, and inflation is approaching the 2% target level. The current rate cut is aimed at providing greater growth support for the economy. He emphasized that the Fed will continue to monitor economic data and adjust monetary policy flexibly.
This rate cut has had a far-reaching impact on the market. Major U.S. stock indexes generally rose after the announcement, with tech stocks performing particularly strongly. The yield curve in the bond market has become steeper, and the cryptocurrency market has also seen a significant rebound, with BTC price breaking through key resistance levels. In addition, capital inflows to emerging market countries have increased, leading to currency appreciation and improved economic confidence.
Analysts point out that the Fed's rate cut may signal a return to global monetary easing, but its sustainability will depend on future economic data performance and the achievement of policy goals.
5. Mt. Gox Repayment Finally Implemented
In 2024, the long-awaited Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange bankruptcy repayment plan finally entered the implementation phase. This event, which began in 2014, resulted in the loss of 850,000 BTC, shocking the global community. Over the years, due to legal disputes, asset liquidation, and market fluctuations, the repayment process has been repeatedly delayed, making it one of the most complex liquidation cases in cryptocurrency history.
Currently, according to the latest announcement from the trustee, the repayment will be made in batches, and the first batch of victims have gradually received partial compensation in the form of BTC, BCH, and fiat currency. Although the repayment amount is far lower than the original loss, this progress marks the end of a decade-long legal and trust crisis, and also provides important legal and regulatory experience for similar cases.
6. CZ and SBF Sentenced
In 2024, two iconic figures in the cryptocurrency industry - Binance founder CZ and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) - were sentenced, drawing global attention. CZ was sentenced to 3 months in prison and a hefty fine by a U.S. court for failing to fulfill anti-money laundering and compliance obligations, which led to the Binance platform being used for illegal transactions. CZ has since been released from prison.
SBF was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the massive misappropriation of customer funds at the FTX exchange. The court ruled that he had deliberately transferred assets before the FTX bankruptcy, using them for high-risk trading in affiliated companies, ultimately causing billions of dollars in customer losses. SBF is currently serving his sentence, and his appeal request has been rejected.
7. VC Tokens Cooled, MEME Tokens Heated Up
In 2024, the cryptocurrency market showed a clear polarization. Traditional project tokens backed by venture capital (VC tokens) experienced a significant cooldown due to market weakness and regulatory pressure. For example, Layer 2 projects with large financing records and top-tier institutional support, such as Starknet (STRK) and ZkSync (ZK), saw their prices plummet significantly during the year, with trading volumes continuously shrinking and investor confidence clearly weakened. In contrast, the MEME token market was on fire. Emerging MEME tokens represented by PEPE, WIF, and NEIRO sparked an investment frenzy during the year, with multiple tokens achieving tens of times in short-term gains, attracting a large influx of capital and retail investors. This phenomenon is driven by community-driven hype and expectations of high returns.
Analysts point out that the popularity of MEME tokens relies more on market sentiment and social media propagation, lacking the actual application foundation of traditional VC-backed projects. However, in the current context of a depressed crypto market, the short-term speculative demand has made them a safe haven for investors.
8. MicroStrategy (MSTR) Included in the Nasdaq-100 Index link
MicroStrategy (MSTR) was included in the Nasdaq-100 Index. MicroStrategy will become the 40th largest company in the Nasdaq-100 Index. Inclusion in this index will give MicroStrategy a place in the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), one of the world's largest ETFs, with assets under management exceeding $300 billion.
As of December 22, 2024, MicroStrategy holds 444,262 BTC, with a price of approximately $62,257 per BTC, valued at approximately $27.7 billion, achieving a quarterly return of 47.4% and a year-to-date return of 73.7%.
9. Ethereum completes the Cancun upgrade, further enhancing scalability and user experience
In 2024, Ethereum successfully implemented the Cancun upgrade, which is another major network improvement after the Shanghai upgrade. This upgrade introduced the highly anticipated EIP-4844 proposal (Proto-Danksharding), marking an important step for Ethereum in terms of scalability and fee optimization.
EIP-4844, through the introduction of "Data Blobs" technology, significantly reduces the cost of Rollup solutions on Ethereum, and is expected to further compress on-chain transaction fees to 1/10 of the current level. This creates a more favorable environment for decentralized finance (DeFi) and on-chain gaming applications, while also improving Ethereum network's transaction throughput.
After the upgrade, the Ethereum network has been stable, and the developer community and user feedback have been positive. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that the Cancun upgrade is a key milestone in achieving Ethereum 2.0's "scalability trilogy", and further improvements will continue to be implemented.
10. Bitcoin halving year sees on-chain innovations: Runes and Inscriptions drive ecosystem development
In 2024, the year of the Bitcoin halving, the Bitcoin network has seen multiple innovations, attracting industry attention. These new features not only expand Bitcoin's application scenarios, but also inject new vitality into its long-term development.
Among them, the Runes technology has attracted much attention. It is a lightweight token protocol that allows users to issue and manage tokens on the Bitcoin network, while retaining the security and simplicity of the Bitcoin network. Compared to the ERC-20 standard on Ethereum, Runes focuses more on resource efficiency and decentralization principles, and has attracted multiple projects to join the ecosystem experiment.
Inscriptions, based on the Ordinals protocol, allow embedding of text, images, and other data, giving the Bitcoin network functionality similar to Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). This innovation has sparked a craze in the art creation and collection fields, with on-chain Inscription transaction volumes repeatedly hitting new highs, and some rare Inscriptions being auctioned for over $1 million.
