Bitcoin made a big comeback to start 2024. Will it hit $100,000 this year?

The first half of 2024 saw the most volatile asset class, cryptocurrency, experience a comeback-worthy story after going through its most vulnerable state.

In January 2023, Bitcoin hovered around $16,000. A year later it skyrocketed to $40,000. Bitcoin reached a peak of $73,000 this March and now sits at about $61,000.

The impressive trajectory — rising from the ashes and soaring to new heights — has brought about a significant transformation in the image and perception of cryptocurrency. The paradigm shift is owed to the market, the criminal convictions of corrupt crypto billionaires, and its newfound relevance in politics.

Let’s take a moment to look back at how far cryptocurrency has come this year — and what might come next.

With each passing month in 2024, cryptocurrency became more macro and integrated into the mainstream. As inflation cooled off, tech stocks moved, and the crypto market also followed suit since both industries are youth-oriented and tech-savvy. Furthermore, the correlation between the S&P 500 and Bitcoin has strengthened, indicating that the stock and crypto markets are moving in tandem. The intersection of cryptocurrency with traditional financial markets will continue to expand this year.

One of the significant milestones in Bitcoin’s history was the SEC’s approval of spot Bitcoin and spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2024. This approval indicated that the authorities recognized Bitcoin as a legitimate financial product with lasting potential. The entry of financial giants like BlackRock $BLK and Fidelity into the crypto world has bolstered the proposition that cryptocurrency is indeed the future of finance.

Financial institutions are working on the tokenization of funds, and they no longer see blockchain as a threat but rather as a tool.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies endured a long crypto winter after the collapse of disgraced crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX in 2022. However, this year, the crypto industry has seen brighter days, largely thanks to the SEC’s green light to spot Bitcoin ETFs and Ether ETFs. In January, Bitcoin was trading around $40,000, and in less than two months, it surged over 50%, reaching a peak of $73,737 in March. Additionally, the successful Bitcoin halving, a technical event that cuts Bitcoin mining rewards in half, also had a positive impact on investors.

Investors continued to pour money heavily into spot Bitcoin ETFs, which significantly contributed to the surge in Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency industry overall. The trend is not going to slow down anytime soon, and perhaps that’s why crypto experts are not shy about saying that it won’t be surprising if Bitcoin hits the $100,000 mark this year.

This year, the crypto world’s tainted image improved a bit as FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried and Binance’s former CEO Changpeng Zhao (also known as CZ) were put behind bars. Bankman-Fried was convicted of misappropriating $10 billion in customer deposits and generating false financial statements, while CZ was jailed for enabling money laundering on the crypto exchange.

This year, the authorities arrested key players in the crypto world, including crypto king Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, and Roger Ver, also known as “Bitcoin Jesus.” While Kwon’s cryptocurrency company’s collapse caused a $400 billion market downturn, Ver, one of the largest Bitcoin owners, is facing charges for evading nearly $50 million in taxes.

One of the most intriguing developments in the latter part of 2024 will be the use of crypto as a political tool in the presidential election. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, who declared himself as the candidate for cryptocurrency at a Mar-a-Lago gala, accepts Bitcoin and other cryptos as donations.

Trump’s position on cryptocurrency represents a significant U-turn. A few years ago, he denounced Bitcoin as “a scam against the U.S. dollar” and said that crypto is “a disaster waiting to happen.” But now he says he is “good” with it.

President Biden’s re-election campaign is also considering accepting Bitcoin and cryptocurrency donations, mirroring the Trump campaign. Moreover, Democrats have begun to show a more lenient approach toward crypto by voting in favor of the Republican-led crypto bill this year.