2021 Crypto Market Highlights: Major Events and Highlights
While we applauded all of the year’s major achievements, the most significant development is that the mainstream media now requires the term “Fiat” whenever comparing crypto to traditional currencies.
The inherent volatility of cryptocurrency is one of the reasons it attracts so much attention. It’s not unusual to see one of the biggest cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, achieve a new high while losing 10% or more of its value in a single month or even a single week.
The major cryptocurrencies saw a number of booms and bust phases in 2021. This was usually because of third-party news. There have been a lot of news stories about Bitcoin this year. Elon Musk’s tweets made the stock market go down. Tesla accepts bitcoin, and El Salvador recognizes it as legal cash. In 2021, people searched online how to buy bitcoins rather than buying equities on Google.
Major 2021 Crypto Market Highlights
Here’s a quick rundown of the biggest market-moving events and headlines in the crypto realm in 2021, as well as the then-current price of Bitcoin, the largest and most well-known cryptocurrency, which raised some eyebrows:
1) Tesla Makes a $1.5 Billion Bitcoin Investment
Elon Musk’s enigmatic tweets and innuendo about Bitcoin were realised in February, when his business, Tesla, announced that it was buying $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. Later this year, the company also announced that it would begin accepting Bitcoin as a mode of payment for its services. This news became one of the major Crypto Market Highlights in 2021. Unlike some of Musk’s more cryptic remarks, crypto fans saw these moves as concrete support for Bitcoin’s future.
2) Bitcoin crossed $1 trillion in market value for the first time
Bitcoin’s market value surpassed $1 trillion for the first time on February 19. The achievement occurred after the cryptocurrency received support from significant institutional investors and well-known financial firms early this year. Tesla, Square, and MicroStrategy, for example, have begun to buy bitcoin using their balance sheets.
3) China has once again banned cryptocurrency
The People’s Bank of China announced in September that its anti-cryptocurrency operation would continue.
All crypto-related operations, including trading digital assets, order matching, token issuance, and derivatives, are unlawful in China, according to a Q&A on the PBOC’s website. Furthermore, the PBOC stated that foreign crypto exchanges operating in mainland China are banned.
Throughout the year, China’s ongoing crackdown on bitcoin mining pushed the industry elsewhere. Also, the research from the University of Cambridge revealed in October that the United States had overtaken China as the top destination for bitcoin miners.
According to the data, the United States held 35.4 percent of bitcoin’s hash rate in July, surpassing China for the first time. Cambridge also discovered that China’s average monthly share of global hash rate zeroed out in July. This significant change happened in July and is a big change from September 2020 when China only had 67%.
4) Tesla Accepts Bitcoin Then Discontinues
Following Elon Musk’s announcement that his rocket company, SpaceX holds bitcoin and has no plans on selling any of it; another electric vehicle startup Tesla announced they would be accepting the cryptocurrency as a payment option.
The ill-informed and controversial internet mogul gives and takes bitcoin payments, claiming concerns about energy use. To be honest, Musk has never been predictable, but this time he has outdone himself!
“We are concerned about the fast-rising usage of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, notably coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel,” the zero-emissions EV business said in a statement.
Tesla has begun accepting dogecoin as payment for some of its products, a meme cryptocurrency preferred by Musk.
5) El Salvador recognizes Bitcoin as a legal currency
El Salvador, the first country to use Bitcoin (BTC) as legal cash, has announced the opening of a new “bitcoin” city. This city would be funded entirely by $1 billion in Bitcoin bonds. While neighbouring countries raise VAT, El Salvador’s youthful crypto supporter and President, Nayib Bukele, declared plans to establish a “Bitcoin City” based on bitcoin-backed bonds with no taxes.
6) Elon Musk contributed to Dogecoin’s record high
The price of dogecoin began to rise in May, just before Elon Musk made his “Saturday Night Live” appearance. According to Coin Gecko, dogecoin achieved an all-time high of roughly 73 cents on May 8, the day of Musk’s SNL performance.
However, the price immediately dropped from that high point. Dogecoin plunged as much as 29.5 percent during Musk’s appearance on the show, down to 49 cents at one point.
This was emblematic of Dogecoin’s roller-coaster ride throughout the year, most of which had to do with Musk. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been a vocal advocate of the meme-inspired cryptocurrency since its inception. The spike in Dogecoin began in February after a series of tweets by Musk. Since then, he has continued to promote the digital coin.