Top 3 catalysts driving the crypto boom in 2024

Bitcoin ETF decision is imminent, the Ethereum Cancun upgrade will be activated, and Bitcoin the quadrennial Block RewardHalving approaches, the Web3 industry in 2024 will be kicked off by these three major events.

The approval of the Bitcoin ETF will provide new guarantees for Bitcoin’s liquidity and investment convenience, thereby attracting more investors to the Bitcoin market. The Ethereum Cancun upgrade will greatly improve Ethereum’s ability to scale, thereby providing a more powerful underlying infrastructure for the development of Web3 applications. BitcoinHalving will lead to a decrease in the supply of Bitcoin, theoretically pushing up its price.

The industry predicts that these three things will be the key Node for the crypto asset market to turn from bears to bulls.

Bitcoin ETF

On December 29, 2023, Reuters released heavy news that the United States SEC (SEC) may inform applicants on January 2 or January 3 (US time) whether they are allowed to launch SpotBitcoin ETFs (Bitcoin exchange-traded funds), which will give applicants time to prepare for the launch on January 10.

To date, 13 issuers have filed applications with the SEC for BitcoinSpot ETFs, including Grayscale, BlackRock, Fidelity, VanEck, ARK+21Shares, and Bitwise, among others, which intend to offer SpotBitcoin ETFs on exchanges such as Nasdaq, Chicago Options Exchange BZX, and NYSE Arca.

Image source: BitPush

On Dec. 29, a number of companies filed amendments, and on Dec. 21, several applicants participated in a rare joint conference call with the SEC.

Up to January 10, the SEC will have to respond to the ETF’s application to SpotBitcoin. The industry generally believes that the chances of the ETF passing are very high.

Fundstrat, an investment research firm, predicts that once the BitcoinSpot ETF is approved, the price of Bitcoin will jump more than fivefold from current levels to more than $150,000 or even $180,000. More than $2.4 billion is expected to flow into the newly approved U.S. BitcoinSpot ETF market in the first quarter of 2024.

Ethereum Cancun upgrade

For a long time, Ethereum did not occupy a dominant position in the fierce competition with other Blockchains. The design is relatively complex, and the upgrade process requires a lengthy lead period. Compared to Bitcoin, Ethereum lacks an advantage in terms of assets, and compared to rival chains, the Ethereum network is prone to congestion due to sudden hot applications, resulting in transaction delays and high fees, while its scalability is also limited.

However, the Cancun upgrade predicted for the first quarter of this year will bring a huge performance boost to the Ethereum network. By introducing sharding technology, the Cancun upgrade will enable the Ethereum network to handle multiple shards at the same time, significantly increasing transaction throughput. This will allow the Ethereum network to meet growing user demand while supporting more Decentralization applications and transactions. In addition, the Cancun upgrade will dropEthereum Transaction Fee on the network.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently shared an updated roadmap that demonstrates a commitment to continuous improvement and innovation.

One of the key updates includes the implementation of Single Slot Finality (SSF) in post-Merge Proof-of-Stake (PoS) improvements. SSF is expected to address many of Ethereum’s current shortcomings in PoS design, enabling faster and more secure transactions.

The developers have also made significant progress in other areas such as Surge, including advancements in EIP-4844 and rollups. These improvements enhance Ethereum’s scalability and efficiency, which is critical to its long-term success.

Buterin’s roadmap also addresses the challenge of economic centralization in PoS through initiatives such as Scourge. The focus of this redesign is to address the Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) and general stake pooling issues, which are critical to maintaining the integrity and Decentralization of the network.

Analysts are optimistic about the future of Ethereum, with some predicting that after the Cancun upgrade, the price of Ethereum is expected to reach more than $5,000, while Layer 2 will dominate the Ethereum ecosystem, and Decentralization applications on each chain will usher in major progress at the bottom.

BitcoinBlock RewardHalving

April 2024 is expected to usher in BitcoinBlock RewardHalving, a cycle that will further reduce the supply of Bitcoin, theoretically driving up its prices.

BitcoinHalving is an established event, that is, the Block RewardHalving of digging up a new Bitcoin. The initial (2012) reward was 50 BTC, which was reduced to 25 BTC in 2016 and reduced to 12.5 BTC in 2020. The next Halving is expected to occur in April 2024, when the Mining Reward per Block will be reduced to 6.25 Bitcoin.

There are 103 days left until BitcoinBlock RewardHalving

This year, the protocol represented by Ordinals has led a new trend in the Bitcoin ecosystem, which has gradually changed the face of Bitcoin. In particular, the new Bitcoin inscription experiment based on the Ordinals protocol has begun to introduce some new variables to Bitcoin, which has developed towards the “payment currency” attribute for more than ten years, and even began to show the initial prototype of a similar Ethereum ecosystem.

The Bitcoin network not only has non-fungible tokens appeared, but also Fungible Token assets can be issued with the help of the protocol. But at the same time, controversy over “innovations” such as the BRC20 continues to spark heated debates. After the inscription, the emergence and development of the Bitcoin Layer 2 network has the potential to ease the pressure on the BitcoinMainnet from the issuance of new assets.