Looking back at 2021, the entire crypto industry has undergone earth-shaking changes. China withdraws from the crypto industry, the development of NFT and so on. Here are the 10 most important 2021 crypto events.
Bitcoin’s record high U.S. CPI record high in nearly 40 years
In the context of the United States fully opening the gates and releasing water, the price of Bitcoin hit a record high of $69,000 on November 10th. The non-seasonally adjusted annual rate of CPI in the United States in November recorded 6.8%, a record high since June 1982. Against the background that China may cut interest rates and the United States will raise interest rates, the global currency situation in 2022 is extremely complicated.
China clears mining and Huobi withdrawal
China fully retired Bitcoin mining and trading. Huobi, the largest exchange in the Chinese region, announced the withdrawal of all Chinese users. Although not unexpected, it is still the most important news event of the year. This means that the mining industry has completely shifted, and it also means that China has further withdrawn from the world’s encryption industry arena. Chinese crypto practitioners are migrating to the world. This also stimulated US support for the industry from another angle.
Huobi officially clears out Chinese users today
El Salvador declares Bitcoin as legal tender
Although only a small country in South America, El Salvador surprisingly declared Bitcoin to become legal tender. And under the circumstance that the world is not optimistic, continue to buy on dips. New ways to play such as Bitcoin City, Bitcoin Bonds, and geothermal mining are emerging in endlessly. The direction of the great experiment in El Salvador is one of the most important concerns this year and in the future.
El Salvador expands bitcoin holdings
Coinbase successfully listed, Bitcoin futures ETF passed
In April, Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the United States, successfully listed on the traditional capital market. Although the market value often fluctuates violently along with the fluctuation of Bitcoin, it is also the most important landmark event for the crypto industry to enter traditional finance and the public’s vision. A similar landmark event was the passage of the Bitcoin futures ETF.
Musk, Tesla and MEME
The world’s richest man, Musk, has entered the crypto industry like an elephant breaking into the kitchen. Tesla first bought a huge amount of Bitcoin and announced that it supports Bitcoin payments. Then he suddenly stopped supporting for environmental reasons, and Musk also changed from Bitcoin to only supporting Dogecoin. Musk’s support for Dogecoin triggered the subsequent frenzy of MEME.
Musk stirred DOGE market sentiment again
Ethereum EIP-1559 successfully upgraded
After the successful upgrade of Ethereum EIP-1559, the price of Ethereum has reached a record high. Ethereum has risen nearly 5 times in a year, while Bitcoin has risen by less than double. But 1559 did not alleviate the expensive problem of Ethereum Gas. Fortunately, 1559 was not significantly postponed, which also gave the outside world confidence in the more important Ethereum 2.0 next year.
The new public chain broke out
New public chains such as Solana, Terra, Avalanche, and Polygon have exploded this year. The increases reached 10690%, 14353%, 3002% and 11034% respectively. In addition to the huge wealth effect, each has its own characteristics and advantages, which challenge the ecology of Ethereum.
Punk Revival Ape Madness
CryptoPunks and BAYC led the NFT frenzy. Makes Avatar NFT an effective business model. The more important significance of NFT is that it is the first time that the crypto industry has completely broken the circle and merged with traditional society and popular culture.
The rise of Axie and chain games
From DeFi, NFT, to Gamefi, the rise of Axie triggered the popularity of Gamefi. If NFT is an aristocratic game, then Gamefi represented by Axie is the countryside surrounding the city, and it has a huge community base. At the end of 2021, Gamefi’s financing has become the largest part of the encryption field. But at the same time, there have also been some crashes in the dog chain. In 2022, a large number of regular games will enter the market. There are many interesting variables where Gamefi will go.
Axie Infinity players earn less than the minimum wage in the Philippines
Polynetwork hacking incident
Polynetwork became the largest cryptocurrency theft in the history of crypto. Fortunately, the hacker compromised and returned all the money. But on the other hand, whether against DeFi protocols or centralized exchanges, there are endless cases of theft. It is a minority that can be recovered, and more of them have become hackers’ ATMs. A large number of security incidents seem to have no good solutions to hackers for the time being, casting a bad shadow over the industry.
