Breaking every Crypto record in numbers this year

Blockchains are pretty interesting, and there is never a dull moment. However, it has its ups and downs, keeping the investors on edge.

In recent years, Crypto has started to make headway in the market. Let’s look through the most staggering figures from Crypto’s most successful year yet.

You can now also gift your beloved a crypto, an excellent virtual stocking stuffer.

A YEAR IN RETROSPECT

• • The mind-boggling numbers behind cryptocurrency’s record-breaking year

Bitcoin and Ethereum, along with other cryptos, hit an all-time high as they entered the mainstream in 2021. El Salvador is the first country to legalize Bitcoin as a form of payment. Elon Musk moved his Dogecoin cheerleading from Twitter to Saturday Night Live, just months after Tesla added $1.5 billion worth of BTC to its bank sheet. We’re looking back at the stats that tell the tale of Crypto’s biggest and busiest year ever this week.

• • Hitting $3 trillion.

Last November, the total value of the crypto market hit an all-time high reaching $3 trillion. Around that time, Bitcoin surged roughly around $69,000, with Ethereum reaching $4,900. However, the crypto market floated around $2.2 trillion this week; nevertheless, Crypto will continue to be one of the best-performing asset classes in 2021.

• • $240 billion being invested in Decentralized Finance.

A total amount of $240 billion was deposited into Defi, a vast network of apps and protocols that enable decentralized lending, borrowing, NFT buying, crypto swapping, and other services. Even though Ethereum hosts most of DeFi’s global peer-to-peer traffic, Solana and Avalanche, rival blockchains this year, made tremendous strides by offering faster transaction times and lower network prices.

• • Venture Capital is showing interest in Crypto.

This year roughly $30 million were funded by venture capital into crypto startups and projects, which was more than the total investment in the crypto-space over the preceding decade.

• • Bitcoin entering the New York Stock Exchange.

As the Bitcoin futures ETF entered the New York Stock Exchange in October, it traded roughly $1 billion in a single day, making it one of the most successful ETF debuts ever. The ETF invests in bitcoin futures contracts, which are contracts to buy bitcoin in the future at a certain price. Unfortunately, the SEC has yet to approve a “spot” BTC ETF, which would hold the cryptocurrency directly, despite more than a dozen applications.

• • Increase in the number of Crypto users globally.

The number of total crypto users globally was around 200 million, a 100% increase since the beginning of the year. The first decade of cryptocurrency adoption resembles the first decade of Internet use, which began in the late 1990s as per the shareholders’ letter in Q3 of Coinbase.

• • Launching NFTs into the mainstream.

Beeple’s “Everyday: The First 5,000 Days” NFT, which launched NFTs into the mainstream, paid $69 million at an auction held at Christie in March. However, this figure is nothing compared to the total sales achieved by biggest collectibles and games like NBA Top Shot around $800 million, Bored Ape Yacht Club around $890 million, Art Block around $1.1 billion, CryptoPunk roughly $1.8 billion, and Axie Infinity at around $3.7 billion.

• • Largest number of Crypto wallets dedicated to buy at auction.

ConsitutionDAO, a group of internet strangers, came together and raised a fund of $47 million through the contribution of 17437 crypto wallets in an attempt to buy a rare copy of the U.S. Constitution at a Sotheby’s auction held in November. However, the group’s attempts were foiled when Ken Griffin, a billionaire hedge-fund manager, outbid the DAO.

• • Increased in the percentage of users of Dogecoin.

Around 12,882% of Dogecoin hiked between January 1st and May 7th 2021, its record high. DOGE began trending downwards after Elon Musk’s Saturday Night Live appearance, it is still 4000% high for the year. In addition, the joke-based cryptocurrency sparked a surge of meme coins like SHIBA INU.

• • Using alternate sources of energy for Bitcoin Mining.

El Salvador using Volcano-powered “Volcanode” during the October test, mined approximately $269 worth of BTC, as it became the first country to legalize Bitcoin as a tender. Norway and Iceland have been using geothermal power, a sustainable energy source, for a long time. This energy is used to mine cryptocurrencies.

• • Many countries are showing interest in Crypto.

Roughly around 79 countries have shown interest in Crypto. They are researching, developing, plotting, or launching their central bank digital currency version, which would be issued through the government. It would be similar to Bitcoin, facilitating faster transactions and inexpensive global payments.

• • Countries reconstitute mining as China imposes a crackdown on Bitcoin.

As of August, 35.4% of Bitcoin mining power was hosted in the United States. However, mining has reconstituted itself in countries ranging from North America to Kazakhstan following China’s mid-year crackdown. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, which facilitates faster and cheaper BTC transactions, operates by a record number of global computers, approximately 18,000 “nodes.”

• • Celebrating Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper.

It has been almost 13 years since Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper on October 31. Bitcoin will be celebrating its 13th anniversary of the first transaction, which was recorded on the network on January 3.

Happy Holidays

What are the best ways to present Crypto to friends and family during the holidays?
As per the new survey of 18 to 65-year-olds in the United States, roughly 10% are planning to gift Crypto as a holiday present this year, and 75% of those people plan to give Bitcoin.

To gift crypto, log on to your BTI account and simply share it. Even though the person you are gifting has no BTI account, you can still send in the cryptos to their email address. A sleek digital card with NFT-inspired artwork, as well as instructions on how to collect their gift.

NFTs make fantastic gifts because each one is one-of-a-kind. Consider a streetwear-inspired NFT collection like Adam Bomb Squad for sneakerheads. If someone you care about is a die-hard NBA fan, you might want to get them an NBA TopShot pack. Consider getting an ENS address, a domain name representing your Ethereum wallet address — sort of like the Web3 version of an excellent Gmail account or website domain — for tech-savvy friends and family.

Crypto has become a popular obsession, with millions of people potentially starting their crypto adventure in the coming weeks. Younger traders are driving this trend: Gen Z respondents were twice as likely as other demographics to have already given cryptocurrency as a present to friends and family. According to CNBC, many Gen Z and millennial cryptocurrency enthusiasts plan to “spend thousands of dollars” on blockchain-based gifts such as ENS addresses and NFTs.