Bitcoin ascendancy, WazirX chaos, and India’s blockchain evolution: Crypto events that marked 2024

On December 5, Bitcoin marked a new record price as it crossed $100,000 for the very first time [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

2024 is a year that many crypto investors will toast even decades from now. After the U.S. voted Donald Trump back into the White House, Bitcoin rose till it crossed $100,000 in price for the very first time, signalling traders’ excitement and hopes for the coming year.

At the same time, it was a year of pain and hurt for thousands of India-based crypto investors who were impacted by one of the largest crypto hacks on record, and have since been waiting months for a resolution that is yet to materialise.

So, which crypto events and catastrophes defined the year that is coming to an end? Let’s take a look.

WazirX cyber-attack and restructuring

The July 18 cyber-attack against a WazirX and Liminal multi-signature wallet did not just whisk away more than $230 million in assets; it also upended the lives of thousands of investors as crypto withdrawals were halted on the platform. While investors tried to get back access to their crypto or involve the Indian authorities, WazirX’s leadership instead pushed for a moratorium and decided to undergo restructuring in Singapore, insisting this was the fastest way to get customers some of their recoveries. The suspected perpetrators, the fate of the stolen funds, the reason why the Indian authorities are yet to publicly assist investors. . .all these remain mysteries for WazirX’s customers.

As crypto investors in other parts of the world were able to capitalise on Bitcoin’s rocketing prices in November, WazirX’s investors—the number of registered users goes into the millions—have no choice but to painfully wait for a foreign court to help decide their fate.

Bitcoin Halving

The Bitcoin Halving is a roughly once-in-a-four-year event that sees the mining reward for the top cryptocurrency being cut in half, so Bitcoin miners get fewer coins for processing transactions and the asset automatically becomes more scarce. The Bitcoin Halving took place this year around April 19-20, with both investors and miners tracking the developments with bated breath.

Though many believed or hoped that the Bitcoin Halving would result in momentous price gains for the top coin, this was not really the case and prices largely remained within the already established range at the time.

Bitcoin breaks $100,000

On December 5, Bitcoin marked a new record price as it crossed $100,000 for the very first time and also broke past the $106,000 mark days later, according to CoinMarketCap. In the days following the November 4 election that saw Trump re-elected to the White House, Bitcoin’s price spiked to cross the $75k, $80k, $90k, $95k, and even $99k price points before dropping once more but wavering in the $90k to $100k range. As South Korea was reeling from a temporary martial law order that was voted out in a matter of hours, the top coin hit $100,000.

A large part of this was thanks to investors’ euphoria over Trump’s victory, with many seeing the 45th president and his supporter Elon Musk as crypto proponents who will loosen the many existing regulatory constraints on the crypto market in the U.S.

Trump is also involved with a decentralised finance (DeFi) platform, further encouraging crypto entrepreneurs who have long railed against the authority of the U.S. SEC. The departure of Gary Gensler, the U.S. SEC Chair who famously described the crypto market as the ‘Wild West,’ also cheered many investors.

India tops in crypto adoption

According to Chainalysis’ Global Crypto Adoption Index 2024, India grabbed the first place for leading in adoption globally—for the second time in a row.

The Chainalysis report noted that India had a high crypto capital gains tax but stated: “Regardless, these developments didn’t seem to hinder crypto’s overall growth in the country, and it is the same this year. In addition to ranking second in the CSAO region in terms of cryptocurrency value received, India leads the world on this year’s global adoption index.”

While Indian traders are open to experimenting with a range of cryptocurrencies and tokens, the country has also seen a rise in crypto scams targeting both experienced crypto traders as well as unsuspecting users who are not familiar with the asset class. Support for hacked or scammed investors continues to be nascent, even though awareness is rising.

Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced

The billionaire and former CEO of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX was sentenced to 25 years in prison this March after he was found guilty on two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

While leading the FTX exchange between 2019 and 2022, Bankman-Fried misused customer funds at FTX in order to prop up a sister firm called Alameda Research. Apart from this, he was a prolific political donor. It was later established that Bankman-Fried stole over $8 billion of customers’ money. During the highly-anticipated judicial proceedings in the U.S., Bankman-Fried’s closest business associates—including a former romantic partner—testified against him. This October, FTX received court approval of a bankruptcy plan to repay customers, with a limit of up to $16.5 billion in assets recovered.