2024 is a pivotal year for the crypto industry, characterized by a combination of regulatory shifts, technological innovations, and market milestones. Trump’s re-election, Bitcoin’s price reaching all-time highs, and the approval of crypto ETFs mark a major turning point in mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies. At the same time, significant progress has been made in areas such as Layer-2 expansion, DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure network) and artificial intelligence integration, demonstrating the vitality of the industry's continued development. However, challenges such as regulatory pressure, quantum computing threats, and market volatility will also continue to affect the future of the crypto industry.
The top ten influential events in the encryption industry in 2024:
1. Trump’s re-election and encryption policy changes< /h2>
Background:
Donald Trump’s re-election as President of the United States in 2024 has rekindled optimistic expectations for an improvement in the regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies. Trump has made it clear that he intends to make the United States the "global crypto capital" and criticized the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for excessive regulation. He also proposed giving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) more regulatory powers, including Bitcoin and Digital commodity spot market including Ethereum.
Impact:
Regulatory clarity: The Trump administration’s policies are expected to loosen restrictions and reverse the SEC’s harsh enforcement stance under Gary Gensler.
Institutional adoption: A clearer regulatory framework will boost the confidence of institutional investors and drive capital inflows into the market. For example, the market value of BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) holdings exceeded $54 billion.
Geopolitical Competition: The United States will take measures to compete globally with Asia, Europe and other regions for the dominance of the crypto industry. Bitcoin strategic reserve has become one of the topics.
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2. Bitcoin price breaks through 10USD
Background:
Driven by inflationary pressure, large-scale institutional adoption, and Bitcoin spot ETFs, the price of Bitcoin exceeded the $100,000 mark for the first time in 2024, setting a new all-time high.
Influence:
Mainstream recognition:< Breaking through this psychological barrier further established Bitcoin's status as "digital gold" and highlighted its anti-inflation and store-of-value properties. However, during the same period, Bitcoin also showed correlation with the trend of US stocks.
Capital influx:A large influx of institutional investors and retail traders, and the rise in Bitcoin prices have driven major investments such as Ethereum, Solana, and Cardano. The market for altcoins is booming.
Network Security: High valuation will attract miners to increase investment in the Bitcoin network and improve network security and decentralization.
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3. Bitcoin SpotETFApproved
Background: After several years of gaming, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally approved it in early 2024 Launched the first Bitcoin spot ETFs, allowing investors to have direct exposure to Bitcoin through regulated financial products.
Impact:
Market liquidity: ETFs bring billions of dollars of capital to Bitcoin, increasing liquidity and price stability.
Institutional adoption: Pensions, hedge funds and traditional investors have legal channels to allocate Bitcoin assets.
Industry Validation: The approval demonstrates the growing acceptance of Bitcoin as a legitimate asset class.
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Bloomberg: Large funds continue to enter the Bitcoin ETF, attracting a net inflow of US$17 billion during the year
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley bought more than $600 million in spot Bitcoin ETFs in Q2
4. EthereumETFsand post-merger upgrades
Background: Following the success of Bitcoin, Ethereum ETFs are also growing in popularity. At the same time, the Ethereum development team continues to promote upgrades such as proto-danksharding (EIP-4844), aiming to improve network scalability and reduce costs.
Impact:
Scalability: Proto-danksharding will reduce Layer-2 transaction costs and increase Ethereum’s throughput, enhancing its competitive advantage.
Institutional Interest: The Ethereum ETF will accelerate institutional adoption of ETH and decentralized finance (DeFi).
DeFi Growth: Lower gas fees will promote the adoption of decentralized applications (dApps) on Ethereum.
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5. MEMEMania andPumpFunOutbreak
Background: MEME coins represented by DOGE and SHIB will rise again in 2024, driven by social media hype and community culture, especially during the US election, becoming a hot spot for market speculation. The PumpFun trading platform has further boosted this trend. It has successfully attracted a large number of young investors through its threshold-free MEME currency issuance and trading mechanism, as well as its entertainment-based and game-based trading model. Since its launch, PumpFun has generated nearly $300 million in revenue.
Impact:
User base expansion: The craze for MEME coins and the rise of the PumpFun platform have lowered the threshold for retail investors to enter the crypto market and accelerated the growth of the market user base.
Community Impact: MEME has successfully highlighted the power of grassroots communities in driving crypto adoption.
Volatility risk:The speculative nature of MEME currency leads to violent market fluctuations and increases investors' potential risks.
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6. The rise of DePIN(decentralized physical infrastructure network)
Background: The DePIN project demonstrates the potential of blockchain technology in the field of physical infrastructure, building decentralized networks such as data storage and computing resources through incentive mechanisms.
Impact:
Practical application:< /strong>DePIN connects the blockchain with the physical world and extends it to cloud computing, energy networks and other fields.
Capital influx: Decentralized infrastructure attracts the attention of a large amount of venture capital and institutional capital.
Cost optimization:DePIN network reduces the cost of data transmission, storage and energy supply, and improves economic efficiency.
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7. Layer-2 Extensions and “Rollup War< strong>”
Background: Ethereum Layer-2 solutions such as Arbitrum, Optimism and ZK-Rollups compete fiercely for market share, providing a low-cost and efficient blockchain experience.
Impact:
User growth:< /strong>Layer-2 technology makes transactions faster and cheaper, promoting the widespread adoption of DeFi and NFT ecosystems.
Interoperability:Layer-2 solutions bridge with other chains, enhancing the overall usability of the blockchain.
Innovation acceleration: Competitive pressure drives technological innovation and further reduces user costs.
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8. Regulatory crackdown in Europe and Asia
Background: Europe’s MiCA (Cryptoasset Market Regulation ) regulations have officially come into effect, and Asian countries have gradually strengthened supervision of the encryption market and introduced stricter compliance requirements.
Impact:
Compliance costs: Projects need to face high compliance costs, and some small companies may withdraw from the market.
Market integration:Regulatory pressure will accelerate market integration, and the strong will always be strong.
Global arbitrage: Crypto projects may relocate to areas with looser regulations, highlighting the competition in the global policy environment
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9. Integration of artificial intelligence into the encryption field
Background: In 2024, AI technology will play an important role in trading algorithms, Breakthroughs in areas such as security auditing and decentralized governance (DAO) have enhanced the practicality of blockchain technology.
Impact:
Trading Automation: AI-driven trading Algorithms improve market efficiency and accuracy.
Security enhancement: AI tools help detect and prevent smart contract vulnerabilities.
DAO optimization: The application of AI in DAO governance improves decision-making transparency and execution efficiency, such as ai16z.
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10. Binance’s reconciliation with the US government
Background: Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) was prosecuted and sentenced by the U.S. Department of Justice for violating anti-money laundering laws and failing to fulfill compliance obligations. In the end, Binance reached a settlement with the US government and paid a fine of more than 4 billion US dollars. CZ resigned as CEO and was released from prison after serving four months.
Impact:
Regulatory compliance becomes mainstream: CZ The incident prompted crypto companies to proactively cooperate with regulators to improve transparency and compliance standards.
Rising compliance costs: Leading exchanges (such as Coinbase, OKX, Kraken) will face more stringent anti-money laundering (AML) and customer identification (KYC) reviews, Operating costs increase significantly.
Market consolidation is accelerating: Small and medium-sized exchanges may face bankruptcy or be acquired by industry giants because they cannot afford compliance costs.
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