Bitcoin’s Best Year Yet? Wait Until You See What’s Next

🎇 From ETFs to Strategic Bitcoin Reserves, 2024 redefined Bitcoin adoption—setting the stage for an unimaginable 2025.

 

Happy Monday Bitcoiners, it's Bam here with another Bitcoin update!

Each week, our team at Bitcoin News saves you time by curating the most impactful events into a concise, easy-to-read update.

Notable events this week include:

  • Rumble announces Bitcoin payments for creators.

  • Russia adopts Bitcoin for international trade settlements.

  • MicroStrategy is set to close the year holding over 2% of Bitcoin’s entire supply.

Let’s dive in! ⚡

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LATEST NEWS 📰

🙌 ADOPTION

  • Rumble introduces payouts in Bitcoin or USDT for content creators, marking a new chapter for Bitcoin in the creator economy.

  • Bitcoin Obituaries have sharply declined over the years.

  • Whales are quietly accumulating Bitcoin through private transactions, coinciding with a threefold increase in CoinJoin usage over the past two years

⚖️ LEGAL

  • Russian companies are now using Bitcoin for international payments following legislative changes aimed at countering Western sanctions.

  • Strive files for a “Bitcoin Bond” ETF, seeking exposure to convertible bonds from Bitcoin-focused companies like MicroStrategy. The firm, owned by Vivek Ramaswamy, includes investment from Vice President J.D. Vance.

  • Bitwise files for a Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF, designed to track companies with at least 1,000 BTC in their corporate treasury.

📈 MARKETS

  • MicroStrategy adds 5,262 BTC, bringing its total to 444,262 BTC, and seeks shareholder approval to increase the number of shares by 10 billion, paving the way for future stock splits.

  • The top two global stocks by percentage return in 2024—Metaplanet and KULR Technologies—both hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets (market caps over $250M, daily trading volumes over $50M).

  • BlackRock's Global Allocation Fund reports holding 430,770 shares of IBIT as of October 31, a 117% increase since July 31.

⛏️ MINING

  • Ethiopia uses its Grand Renaissance Dam to power Bitcoin mining, generating 18% of its electricity revenue and earning $1B last year by monetizing excess hydroelectric power.

  • TeraWulf partners with Core42 to deliver over 70 MW of AI and HPC infrastructure at its NY facility by 2025, expanding beyond Bitcoin mining into sustainable high-performance computing.

  • Foundry USA Pool mined block 875475 on December 19th, which included a transaction with an accidental 8.18 BTC fee—91,127 times the required amount. The fee will be refunded after contacting the user.

🗳️ POLITICS

BAMS 2 SATS 🧢

As 2024 comes to a close, Bitcoin is experiencing one of its most bullish periods on record. Starting the year at $44,000, its price had already tripled from the $15,000 lows of late 2022. Momentum surged in January, fueled by anticipation of ETF approvals and the upcoming halving in mid-April.

Bitcoin ETFs

Reluctantly approved by a Gensler-led SEC on January 10, Bitcoin ETFs shattered expectations with over $36 billion in net inflows—far exceeding Bloomberg’s $10-15 billion year-one forecast. These inflows have outpaced the gold ETF launch by multiples. Despite inflation increasing capital availability, Bitcoin ETFs’ assets under management are already closing in on gold ETFs’ levels—after just one year, compared to gold’s 20-year head start.

Bitcoin Treasury Reserves & Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

Michael Saylor closes the year as one of the most visionary figures in capital market history. Anticipating the influx of major players, he accelerated MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin acquisition strategy in 2024, increasing holdings from 190,000 BTC to over 444,000 BTC. In a single year, the company more than doubled its Bitcoin position, reduced its outstanding interest rates, and secured billions at a 0% interest rate through convertible bonds for further Bitcoin purchases.

Saylor wouldn’t openly call it an attack on the dollar, but many see it as a “speculative attack.” If you haven’t read Pierre Rochard’s essay of the same name, now is a perfect time—especially as we witness it unfolding in real-time.

Other companies naturally followed suit—something many Bitcoiners had predicted in the previous cycle. MicroStrategy’s steady Bitcoin accumulation since 2020 had set the stage, but the market once saw such moves as ‘too risky.’ That sentiment changed after MicroStrategy weathered a 75% Bitcoin drawdown in 2022, only to roar back with a staggering 440% surge in 2024.

With ETFs in play and Saylor hailed as a ‘winner,’ mainstream media shifted its tone on Bitcoin. Public and private companies followed suit, adopting ‘Bitcoin Strategies’ to mirror his success. Early adopters like Metaplanet and Semler Scientific continued building their Bitcoin reserves, reclaiming relevance in the process.

As the year ended, even miners like Marathon and HUT8 raised capital to buy Bitcoin. While some questioned the strategy—given their need to sell mined Bitcoin to cover expenses—many analysts praised the bold move. Marathon, for example, acquired an amount equivalent to over a decade’s worth of mining (excluding difficulty adjustments), solidifying its position as the second-largest corporate Bitcoin holder, though still holding just 1/10th of MicroStrategy’s total.

Strategic Bitcoin Reserve

As Bitcoin’s success and credibility grow, it’s no surprise that nation-states are considering it as a Strategic Reserve. El Salvador, the first mover, demonstrated the potential for significant returns by weathering a full cycle. Now, proposals are emerging for the U.S. to declare Bitcoin a Strategic Reserve Asset, with rumors suggesting Trump may sign an executive order to that effect on his first day in office.

Even if these are just rumors, a dedicated group of politicians, including Senator Cynthia Lummis, is actively pushing the initiative, with Trump expressing support on multiple occasions. This has fueled speculation that some Middle Eastern countries might act first to front-run the move. Only time will tell.

Bitcoin Halving & 100K

Time has already revealed much. Positive developments during the bear market and into 2024 drove Bitcoin’s price to soar. With the halving earlier this year reducing issuance from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC every 10 minutes, surging demand pushed the price past $100,000.

The Show Goes On

Bitcoin is now the talk of the town, sparking both praise and criticism for companies adding it to their treasuries. Some call these moves ‘too good to be true,’ evoking admiration or envy. Notably, out of 55,000 publicly listed companies worldwide, the top two by percentage returns in 2024 hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets.

Metaplanet, which adopted a ‘Bitcoin Standard’ in April and raised capital to buy Bitcoin, and KULR, which recently allocated $21 million to Bitcoin and pledged up to 90% of its cash to a Bitcoin treasury, have both delivered remarkable returns.

Top Performers

2025 is poised to bring more announcements of companies adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets, both to capitalize on potential returns and to hedge against the continued depreciation of fiat currencies.

Thank you for joining us at Bitcoin News Weekly throughout 2024. It’s been an honor to document Bitcoin’s incredible growth during this pivotal year. Let’s keep building our stacks in the year ahead—we’ll be here to keep you informed every step of the way.


Happy New Year!

Stay safe, enjoy the ride & keep on stacking this 2025!
Bam

The Path to a Bitcoin “God Candle”

Scott Dedels, one of the sharpest philosophical minds in Bitcoin, recently published The Dao of Bitcoin and joined us in El Salvador to explore how Bitcoin could spark Renaissance 2.0.

Don’t miss this captivating interview—it will alter how you view Bitcoin, architecture, and the world itself.

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