Bitcoin’s wild ride :Timeline to $100,000 and beyond
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The world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency has more than doubled from this year’s low of $38,505 and has crossed $100,000 for the first time.
Bitcoin broke above $100,000 for the first time on Thursday as the election of Republican Donald Trump as president fuelled bets that his administration will create a friendly regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies.
The world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency has more than doubled from this year’s low of $38,505 and is up over 50% since Trump’s sweeping election win in early November.
Here are key events in Bitcoin’s journey towards $100,000 and beyond:
2008: Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used by the cryptocurrency’s presumed developer, introduces the concept of bitcoin
2010: The first retail transaction takes place when a user pays 10,000 bitcoin for two Papa John’s pizzas
2013: As bitcoin’s popularity grows, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, co-founders of crypto exchange Gemini, file their first application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to create a spot bitcoin ETF.
Grayscale Investments launches the Bitcoin Investment Trust, an open-ended private Bitcoin trust.
2016: The Winklevoss brothers adjusted their application numerous times, such as in the exchange on which the product would be traded. They also file amendments naming State Street as administrator. Grayscale files with the SEC to convert its Bitcoin trust into a spot Bitcoin ETF.
2017: The SEC rejected the Winklevoss application on the grounds that bitcoin markets were not mature enough. Grayscale withdrew its first attempt to convert its trust into an ETF, saying the regulatory environment was not developed enough.
2018: The SEC rejects the Winklevoss twins’ second application to launch a spot bitcoin ETF, saying cryptocurrency exchanges do not have the necessary controls to prevent manipulation.
2020: Grayscale transforms its trust into an SEC-reporting entity, and its shares begin trading on the pink sheets for stocks that trade over the counter. Although not an ETF, it is the first publicly traded Bitcoin fund in the U.S.
2021: The first spot Bitcoin ETF launches in Canada. Gary Gensler replaces Jay Clayton as SEC chair in April.
In October, the SEC approved the ProShares Bitcoin Trust listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, noting that the CME has a satisfactory mechanism for surveilling abuse in the futures market. It is the first U.S.-listed futures-based bitcoin ETF, accumulating $1 billion in assets within its first days of trading—faster than any other ETF.
Also, in October, Grayscale again applied to the SEC to convert its trust into a spot bitcoin ETF.
2022: The SEC rejects several applications from would-be spot bitcoin ETF issuers, including SkyBridge, Fidelity, and Bitwise. The agency also rejects Grayscale’s application, prompting the company to sue.
Amid crashing crypto prices, multiple crypto companies filed for bankruptcy, including Three Arrows Capital, Celsius Network, and FTX, whose founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, is also charged with fraud.
2023
May: Cathie Woods’ ARK Investments and CBOE Global Markets file for a spot bitcoin ETF, giving the SEC a maximum of 240 days to approve or reject the application.
June: BlackRock files a spot bitcoin ETF application with the SEC, raising industry hopes the agency may approve the product and sending the price of bitcoin to a one-year high. In the subsequent weeks and months, a flurry of other issuers and exchanges, including Fidelity and Invesco, file bitcoin ETF applications.
August: A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., rules in favour of Grayscale, saying the SEC did not justify its rejection of its proposal. Europe’s first spot bitcoin ETF begins trading on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange.
October: The SEC opts not to appeal the court’s ruling in the Grayscale case and must reexamine the application.
2024
Jan. 10: The SEC approves 11 proposals from issuers including BlackRock, Fidelity and VanEck, among others, to launch spot bitcoin ETFs.
February: Net inflows into the 10 largest ETFs hit $4 billion in the first month, according to LSEG data.
March: Bitcoin tops $70,000 for the first time to hit a record high, having doubled in value in the five months.
June: Trump pitched himself as a champion for cryptocurrency and slammed Democrats’ attempts to regulate the sector during a San Francisco fundraiser.
July: Trump tells a bitcoin conference that, if elected, he will create a strategic national bitcoin stockpile and will ensure the United States is the “crypto capital of the planet.”
October: The SEC grants “accelerated approval” to U.S. exchanges to list and trade options tied to 11 spot bitcoin ETFs.
Nov 6: Trump is declared winner of the presidential election, sparking a huge rally in a range of assets, with bitcoin being the standout gainer.
Nov 12: Total crypto market cap tops $3 trillion. Year-to-date ETF net inflows hit $25.8 billion, according to LSEG data.
Nov 21: Bitcoin nears $100,000 for the first time in history, driven by a swell of buying from investors in anticipation of Trump dismantling a lot of the regulation around crypto investment
Dec. 5: Bitcoin soars past $100,000 for the first time, bringing its year-to-date gains to over 140%.
