2021 has been a truly defining year for cryptocurrency. Bitcoin and Ether reached all-time highs, altcoins surged in popularity, your uncle started talking about NFTs at the dinner table over the holidays. Oh, and not to mention the 3 trillion market value that happened in November. Here are some cryptocurrency stories that made headlines over the last 365 days.
Elon Musk Made Waves
In May, just before Elon Musk’s SNL debut, the price of Dogecoin began to spike and hit an all-time high on the day of Musk’s TV appearance. The flux continued as the price quickly retreated shortly after. This instance can be comparable to Dogecoin’s rollercoaster run all year (primarily due to Musk’s influence).
This wasn’t the only moment that Musk stirred things up. His announcement that Telsa would no longer accept bitcoin caused investors to hit the breaks on the booming market. Musk claimed that his environmental concerns warranted this decision, but many are skeptical of his explanation. Tesla’s profits hit $438 million in the first three months of the year– the most the company has ever seen during a quarter. BUT, nearly a quarter of those profits were due to selling a portion of the company’s stake in Bitcoin. Musk’s announcement erased as much as $365 billion in value from the cryptocurrency market. Wow.
El Salvador Became The First Country To Accept Bitcoin as Legal Currency
In June, El Salvador passed a new law to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender, becoming the first country. Unfortunately, the system implemented has done more harm than good. Read more about El Salvador’s cryptocurrency failure here *link to blog #27*
There Were Massive Crypto Donations
After Bitcoin and Ether’s value skyrocketed, crypto investors felt quite generous. Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home received the largest-ever cryptocurrency donation in Scottish history. The 26 ETH donation will be used to ensure the pet’s charity services will continue through 2022, giving essentials to owners in need. Also, “Crypto Giving Tuesday” broke records this year with a whopping $2.4 million donated to a vast amount of charities. This is an incredible 583% increase from the previous year.
NFTs Were Transforming Young Lives
Benyamin Ahmed, a 12-year-old boy in London, earned 400,000 by selling his NFT collection.
The Grammy’s Announced They’re Jumping on the NFT Bandwagon
Grammys are on board! A series of NFTs will commemorate next year’s Grammy Awards. More information will be unveiled in January of 2022.
A Couple Was Married on the Blockchain
Rebecca Rose and Peter Kacherginsky digitized their wedding rings as a token of their love. The groom wrote an Ethereum smart contract for their marriage that issued digital artwork to their crypto wallets. Each of the two unique tokens features wedding-related animation from Carl Johan Hasselrot.
Celebrities Really Embraced Crypto
Celebrities such as Mila Kunis, Mariah Carey, Tom Brady, Snoop Dogg, and many more showed their adoption and appreciation for the cryptocurrency industry. On her official Instagram account, Kim Kardashian marked her entry into crypto by promoting Ethereum Max (EMAX), an untested cryptocurrency token. Snoop entered the crypto space via an NFT collaboration named “Decentral Eyes Dogg.” Paris Hilton also rode the NFT wave in 2021 and claimed to have invested in Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) back when BTC was valued below $1,000.
A Crypto-Trading Hamster Performs Better Than Warren Buffet
Yes, you read that right. This is probably my favorite story of the year. “A cryptocurrency-trading hamster named Mr. Goxx charmed the internet with his investment choices while simultaneously proving an important point about the randomness of success in the digital currency industry.”
What Lies Ahead?
Experts believe that 2022 will be a good year for the crypto market. We should expect to see an increase in crypto users, the launch of Bitcoin EFT, a growth in DeFi’s popularity, more NFT mainstream news articles, and more.
