I quite frankly almost missed it that today marks year 16 since the genesis bitcoin block.
So Bitcoin is officially a naughty teen/youth, God help us.
And it has been quite the Journey.
First off, Bitcoin beat Alphabet as the youngest company to reach $2 trillion market capitalization.
Alphabet reached this milestone at 23 years old, whilst Bitcoin did it at 15 in December when it reached a $108k all time high.
This is of course just one of many records Bitcoin has broken, and probably not the last it will break. On that note, let's look at a few events in 2024 that should be considered a significant indicator of where things are headed for the digital asset.
Naughty or Sweet, 16 looks good on Bitcoin
How many teenagers can brag about being worth $2 trillion?
On January 10, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) of the United States approved 11 Spot Bitcoin ETFs, Bitcoin was trading at approximately $46k at the time and now these ETFs hold over 5.7% of the Bitcoin supply — worth over $110 billion.
Bitcoin's price did not react much to the news of approval, however, two months later in March, coinciding with the news report of Japan’s trillion dollar pension fund considering Bitcoin for its portfolio diversification, Bitcoin's price surged to $72k.
Both events hold considerable significance as each involved open adoption by top financial institutions globally, from the largest asset manager, BlackRock to Japan’s leading pension fund.
In March, another key player in the world of Finance considered Bitcoin, amongst crypto assets generally for its €12 Trillion investment market.
The European Union's security watchdog, the ESMA, is actively exploring the possibility of integrating cryptocurrencies into the vast €12 trillion investment product market. In an effort to gather insights, the ESMA has reached out to industry experts to seek their opinions on whether Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) can incorporate various asset classes, including crypto assets, commodities, structured loans, emission allowances, catastrophe bonds, and unlisted equities.
Also in March, the Bitcoin blockchain reached 1 billion transactions processed through the network, highlighting its success as a borderless and decentralized global payment system. In April, Bitcoin's fourth halving occurred, reducing block rewards from 6.25 to 3.125.
In May, Wells Fargo, a prominent banking institution in the United States was reported to have made its way into the world of cryptocurrencies through investments in various Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), disclosed in its regulatory filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In July, Donald Trump pledged to fire the SEC chair, Gary Gensler and create a strategic Bitcoin reserve if elected president.
In November, reports surfaced that President-elect Donald Trump plans to eliminate capital gains taxes on cryptocurrencies issued by US-registered companies.
Also in November, Blackrock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF was reported by Watcher guru to now be larger than it's Gold ETF with $33.1 billion assets under management at the time.
In December, Fed Chair Powell called Bitcoin a digital gold. Although the praise was a dismissal of its threat to US dollar speculation by enthusiasts, Powell said that Bitcoin was more of a Gold competitor as a virtual or digital alternative.
With so many stories in-between Bitcoin's journey, 2024 was an eventful year for the digital asset and achieving a $2 trillion market valuation at 15 years of age to become the youngest asset and company(if you may) to reach that milestone, is Bitcoin's biggest message to the world that doubted it and called it's death numerous times.
2025 will be an interesting year not just for bitcoin, but for the entire crypto ecosystem.