Bitcoin’s Golden Year: ETFs, Trump and Record Highs Define Crypto’s 2024 Surge

• The SEC’s approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs in January resulted in record-breaking adoption, with BlackRock’s fund alone collecting over US$ 51 billion in Bitcoin holdings.
• Donald Trump changed from a crypto sceptic to a supporter, guaranteeing to make the United States a worldwide crypto leader after winning the November governmental election.
• Bitcoin attained numerous brand-new all-time highs in 2024, initially reaching US$ 73k in March before rising to US$ 108k in December following Trump’s success.
• Significant organizations accepted crypto throughout the year, with Morgan Stanley using Bitcoin ETFs to rich customers and UBS introducing an Ethereum-based cash market fund.

If you needed to explain the 2024 crypto-year in one brief sentence, it would most likely be something along these lines: 2024 began with a bang and ended with one (of sorts).

On January 10, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) authorized the Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), news that would control headings throughout 2024.

Furthermore, Donald Trump’s re-election triggered an extraordinary Bitcoin rally, culminating in a brand-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 took place in this impressive year? Let’s travel down memory lane.

Quarter 1– The Most Successful ETF Launch in History

The approval of the 11 Spot ETFs in the United States was interesting and a video game changer. The BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (with the ticker IBIT) led the pack and broke all records.

In the brief 11 months, this fund has actually collected US$ 51.2 billion (AU$ 82.3 billion) in Bitcoin holdings, or 552,554 BTC, 2.63% of all Bitcoin supply. Together, the ETFs went beyond US$ 100 billion (US$ 104.6 billion or AU$ 168.2 billion to be exact) in holdings– an overall of 5.37% of all the Bitcoin ever to be around.

Bitcoin ETF holdings in USD, source: BiTBO

No other single ETF or group of ETFs has ever had a much better start– which might be an indication of things to come in 2025.

We anticipate a wave of cryptocurrency ETFs next year, albeit not at one time. Out is most likely the btc + eth combination ETFs, then prob Litecoin (bc its fork of btc = product), then HBAR (bc not identified security) and then XRP/Solana (which have actually been identified securities in pending … pic.twitter.com/29vMdciZxE

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) December 17, 2024

There had actually likewise been early indications of Donald Trump turning his formerly unfavorable position on the market when he made remarks that “lots of people are accepting it”.

Increasingly more, I’m seeing individuals wishing to pay Bitcoin. And you’re seeing something intriguing, so I might deal with it […] one method or the other.

Donald Trump

March saw an ATH for Bitcoin at US$ 73,079 (AU$ 118,549), which would be the high up until October.

Quarter 2– Governments Selling Bitcoin

In April heads turned east as Hong Kong regulators authorized the very first regional Bitcoin and Ethereum Spot ETFs.

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