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A year ago, Gary Gensler and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally capitulated and approved trading of spot bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs) that will take effect the following day. These ETFs would go on to become the best-performing ETFs in history, with BlackRock’s $IBIT ETF leading the pack, garnering more than $52 billion in inflows alone.
I think a lot of people are afraid to admit it, or just don’t want to, but ETFs were the most significant moment for Bitcoin during 2024. Looking back on the year, it seems like everything that happened Bitcoin’s favor was downstream of these approvals. Let me explain.
The six major events that occurred in 2024 were as follows:
- SEC Approves Spot Bitcoin ETF
- Donald Trump promises US to embrace Bitcoin
- MicroStrategy and other corporate adoptions of Bitcoin
- Price milestone of $100,000
- Gary Gensler resigns from the SEC
- The halving
When BlackRock called for its ETF near the end of the bear market in 2023, to me that marked the start of a new bull market. We immediately saw a rush of other large asset managers rushing to apply for an ETF, and since then the price of Bitcoin has risen: the price of bitcoin was $24,900 when BlackRock filed its ETF, then it was $46,000 when it was approved, and today we’re sitting at just under $100,000.
The main driver of interest and increased adoption of Bitcoin is its price, not its utility. Large price increases attract the most eyeballs, new capital reserves and generate more interest in the asset overall. When the price of bitcoin drops, all the tourists leave and only the HODLers remain.
Bitcoin ETFs that drove up the price in historic ways helped set the stage for Donald Trump to embrace it. Bitcoin was no longer just some magical internet money for a small crowd of people on the internet, it was now backed by the world’s largest asset managers in BlackRock and Fidelity. The huge inflows into these products were like a tsunami, demonstrating how much demand there really was for bitcoin and the new financial direction our country was taking. It has shown that this is an industry that is going to grow exponentially, and I think Trump, like many other politicians, including senators and congressmen, have understood that it is better to fight with us than against us.
Now, with the price rising with the support of the largest asset managers and a new pro-Bitcoin administration coming to the White House, this has given the green light for MicroStrategy and other companies to delve deeper into the asset. And this is exactly what happened.
Michael Saylor has accelerated MicroStrategy’s bitcoin purchases like never before and shows no signs of slowing down in 2025. Their actions outperforming bitcoin have attracted the attention of countless other publicly traded companies that have copied the strategy” Bitcoin For Corporations,” adding further buying pressure to bitcoin, pushing the asset further higher. MicroStrategy is raising over $42 billion to buy more bitcoin to benefit everyone who doesn’t already own any: This large increase in demand and regulatory certainty is sending bitcoin accumulators into a FOMO frenzy.
All of this combined, including the halving where production of newly created bitcoin was halved to just 3,125 BTC per block, took us to a new all-time high of over $108,000. Simply buying demand on most days is completely reduced and determines the amount of new coins mined, driving the price even higher. Just the other day, BlackRock’s ETF alone purchased over 6,078 bitcoins while miners created just 450 new bitcoins. There aren’t enough bitcoins around for everyone and they aren’t making more than 21 million coins.
NEW: 🇺🇸 The BlackRock commercial #Bitcoin The ETF purchased 6,078 bitcoins today, while miners mined only 450 new bitcoins.
Absolute. Shortage. pic.twitter.com/KkHGpP2WAL
— Nikolaus Hoffman (@NikolausHoff) January 8, 2025
The success of these ETFs and the change in the presidential administration spelled bad news for the SEC and other anti-Bitcoin regulators and politicians. Gary Gensler, who for years helped delay the approval of spot ETFs, is officially leaving the SEC. The two Democratic SEC commissioners who voted against approval are also leaving the commission. And it appears that Bitcoin is now poised to thrive in the United States over the next four years without being attacked by the regulators and politicians who have held this industry back for so long.
ETFs were a big moment for this industry and things would most likely have turned out very differently if they hadn’t been approved. The price of bitcoin would likely be much lower than today, and we might even have had a different winner in the US presidential election if it had not been approved. So many great things went Bitcoin’s way last year, and it all happened following ETF approvals.
This article is a Take. The opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.