Bitcoin 2024 Review: Price Breaks $100,000 Mark, Annual Rise Exceeds 131%

In 2024, the Bitcoin market showed a strong upward trend, with an annual rise of 131.83%. The year-end price reached $97,851, a significant increase from $42,208 at the beginning of the year. On December 17, Bitcoin broke through the $100,000 mark, setting a historic high of $106,074.

This year's Bitcoin market is mainly driven by three major events: the approval of spot ETFs, the fourth halving, and the U.S. elections. Unlike previous years, this year's primary driving force for Bitcoin's rise comes from a friendly shift in the regulatory environment, rather than purely from supply scarcity. This shift has attracted a large influx of institutional funds into the market, injecting liquidity and driving prices steadily upward.

Market data shows that this year, the Bitcoin market has shown a trend of both volume and price rising. The average daily trading volume for the year is approximately 38.354 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 102.72%. The total open interest in the futures market reached 30.948 billion USD by the end of the year, an increase of 195.79% compared to the beginning of the year. The total holdings of various Bitcoin ETFs reached 11.2006 million BTC, with an annual growth of 80.87%.

On-chain data shows that the average monthly active addresses of Bitcoin this year are about 780,300, a year-on-year decrease of 17.75%. This may indicate that the market is shifting from a high-frequency trading phase dominated by retail investors to a low-liquidity growth phase led by institutional investors. The total on-chain transaction volume for the year is approximately 49.6658 million BTC, equivalent to 328 billion USD, a slight increase of 4.67% compared to last year. Notably, the number of addresses with balances between 100 and 1000 BTC has increased by 11.21%, indicating a trend of larger address balances.

In terms of application, the total locked value (TVL) of Bitcoin DeFi surged from $305 million at the beginning of the year to $6.755 billion by the end of the year, with an annual increase of 2117.11%. Among these, the TVL of the staking protocol Babylon accounted for as much as 82.37%, becoming the largest protocol on the Bitcoin chain. This marks a shift in the focus of Bitcoin's application from payments to staking, opening up new directions for asset applications.

Looking ahead to 2025, Bitcoin still faces many uncertainties. Under the backdrop of the Federal Reserve's hawkish interest rate cuts and quantitative tightening, tightening liquidity may put pressure on Bitcoin's rise. However, if the regulatory environment becomes more relaxed, it may provide new upward momentum for Bitcoin. The development of BTCFi is also worth paying attention to, but to become the main logic behind Bitcoin pricing, its application scale needs to continue to expand, which still faces challenges in the short term.

Overall, the Bitcoin market in 2024 shows new characteristics dominated by institutions and expanding applications. Future trends will continue to be influenced by multiple factors such as the macro economy, regulatory environment, and industry development, with both opportunities and challenges coexisting.