Last year was great for the Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, especially for all the possibilities for trading and exchanging. But, this year is not easy for anyone, including the crypto market. As we know, the world was hit by a pandemic that caused many businesses to fail, resulting in financial issues all around the world.
Due to the coronavirus crisis, Bitcoin’s value dropped for a short period, but after the halving, it’s expected for the price to rise in the following months. The halving event was one of the most popular trends related to cryptocurrencies this year. It’s not only the Bitcoin who “suffers” a lot of changes because of the crisis. The whole market is changed and investors will need a few weeks to adapt to the situation after the world becomes coronavirus-free.
No one could’ve ever expected that 2024 will bring a lot of critical moments for the global economy, and many crypto-related events were postponed or canceled. But, that didn’t stop the market to have its ups and downs, trying to maintain good stability even in a time of global crisis. Some trends changed, and others even improved better than it was planned last year.
Let’s see what happened in 2024 on the crypto market and what we still expect to happen in the following months:
1. Better trading and exchanging platforms
The existing trading platforms improved their trust and legal certificates, making the crypto transactions safe and protected. People often decide to trade and exchange using the most trusted websites and applications, like BitXT and similar to it, knowing that their virtual money is safe, until they withdraw them in the digital wallet. All the investors and traders want to keep their crypto savings away from hackers. In the past, many of them preferred peer-to-peer trading, but these platforms are a better option, even though they have to put a deposit before they start trading.
2. Bitcoin halving
This is a crypto event that is scheduled to happen every four years. It’s a type of action that can easily be compared to money inflation in the world of real banks. It’s previously determined that there can be only 21,000,000 Bitcoins in the blockchain network, so every four years they cut the value in half, so the new coins can be put in the crypto-space. This year’s halving happened earlier in May and the price is still changing day by day, but it circulates around $9,000 per one Bitcoin.
3. Bitcoin’s status as a safe haven
There are a lot of cryptocurrencies people can mine, earn, and trade in the crypto market. But, since Bitcoin is most popular, it gained a status of digital gold or safe haven. The analogy is that in real and physical finances, gold is the ultimate and safest currency to keep your savings because every other currency can have fluctuations. But, we still can’t compare Bitcoins to gold. They are more like U.S. dollars in the global economy. That doesn’t mean other currencies are not worthy, but their value depends on the dollar’s fluctuations. The same is for the crypto money too. They all rise or drop during the time, but less or more, they depend on the Bitcoin’s price.
4. New networks and protocols
The most popular names in cryptocurrencies always try to improve the market, finding a lot and lot more ways that ease the trading process. Developers are always trying to make the crypto space better for those who are already there. That is why someone needs to establish new rules and upgrade the current ones, so that Bitcoin can keep its trustworthy role in the crypto market.
5. Cryptocurrencies as a payment method
Last year, investors and miners were hoping that Bitcoins can become widely accepted as an official payment method. In some countries cryptocurrencies can be used to pay for goods and services. But, it will take a lot of time until people learn how to use this money and how worthwhile they actually are. It can’t happen overnight, because the institutions and economies all around the world need to be ready for that. And at this particular moment, in a time of global health crisis, there is no sign that cryptos can be used as an official payment method around the globe. But, the good thing is that there is hope, because a lot more people are interested in them, compared to the previous years.
6. Waiting for new cryptocurrencies to hit the market
It’s always nice to be the best, but the competition is making things more interesting. Bitcoin has the leading position in this market, but other currencies are also worthy and valuable. If Bitcoin stays “alone” in the field, the price will quickly drop and people will lose their interest. It may be the leader, but without a good competition, even the best leaders are losers at the same time.
7. Ethereum 2
Ethereum is the second most popular cryptocurrency and the biggest competitor to the Bitcoin. Its developers used the halving time to decide to move the currency to the next step. So, the crypto world is waiting for the ETH 2.0 promotion to the market. We don’t know what we can expect from this iteration since it’s expected to have seven phases of releasement, so it may take some time until they promote the new version to the investors.
8. The rise of crypto derivatives
As we said, Bitcoins can be compared to the gold, but after the coronavirus crisis, many other cryptocurrencies will have a chance to shine in the market. Many investors consider less popular currencies as a better investment. This crisis will result in a lot of changes and the crypto sector is just one of them. Also, this upgrading to the network will demand bigger privacy in transactions. That makes a good base for these currencies to become more reliable, so people can accept them as normal money.
These are some of the 2024 trends in the cryptocurrencies market. We just need to wait for the crisis, so we can see the final impact of the virus on the global economy.
