Since the record high inflation level at the end of 2021 led to the central bank raising interest rates, the largest cryptocurrency bull market to date has ended in failure, and it has been two years since then. Web3 financing, NFT floor prices, and virtual universe frenzy dreams disappeared with the funds of billions of investors, as fraud, fraud, and hacking activities such as FTX and TerraLuna led to the collapse of cryptocurrencies, trustee bankruptcy, and ultimately a series of shocking arrest events

Since the record high inflation level at the end of 2021 led to the central bank raising interest rates, the largest cryptocurrency bull market to date has ended in failure, and it has been two years since then. Web3 financing, NFT floor prices, and virtual universe frenzy dreams disappeared with the funds of billions of investors, as fraud, fraud, and hacking activities such as FTX and TerraLuna led to the collapse of cryptocurrencies, trustee bankruptcy, and ultimately a series of shocking arrest events. Self custody of cryptocurrencies is the only wise choice for 2023.

Nevertheless, due to many positive factors and trends, cryptocurrencies are expected to usher in a new bull market in 2024 and 2025, once again becoming the focus. This time, it may not be just a brief hype, but a moment that could change the face of the global financial industry, as the development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence has continuously upgraded the global financial industry.

This is not only the optimistic view of cryptocurrency enthusiasts, but also some analysts believe that a cryptocurrency bull market is imminent, despite their differing views on the exact timing, potential outcomes, and potential catalysts that could trigger a bull market.

In this article, we will explore major events that may trigger the largest wave in cryptocurrency history. We will also investigate the challenges that may pose major obstacles to the resurgence of cryptocurrencies. Landfill gas!

Disclaimer: Please note that this article is not a financial recommendation and is only for the purpose of promoting knowledge. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and speculative digital assets that require knowledge and caution, so please study them yourself before investing.

1. Bitcoin halved (April 2023)

In the cryptocurrency field, everything still marks the beginning and end of Bitcoin events, no matter what ETH and Solana fans tell you. The world's first cryptocurrency is bringing a series of good news for the coming year. The largest one: Bitcoin halved.

Bitcoin halving, also known as' halving ', is a periodic event that occurs every four years, during which the rewards allocated to Bitcoin (BTC) miners will be reduced by 50%. (The next halving is expected to occur on April 30, 2024)

As a result, the daily new supply of Bitcoin has sharply decreased, increasing its scarcity and increasing its value. This incident is indeed a major event in the field of encryption, but not everyone agrees on how much impact it will have on the entire encryption and financial industry. Each halving in 2012, 2016, and 2020 had a significant impact on the market in the following years (see figure below), helping to drive Bitcoin prices up exponentially.

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At present, after halving, each block only collects 3.125BTC as a reward, and this number will decrease by half in 2028 and this century. As miners, institutions, and retail investors start hoarding Bitcoin, there may be another huge supply shock in 2024.

Of course, in the field of cryptocurrencies, things are rarely as predictable, but it is important not to let halving Bitcoin become the only reason to buy Bitcoin. Financial markets usually price future events in advance, and everyone is greedily waiting to halve. You need to anticipate unexpected situations before and after the event, especially now that there are once again a large number of TradFi investment companies interested in cryptocurrencies.

It should also be noted that the two largest cryptocurrency events in 2021, namely the listing of Coinbase and El Salvador's official acceptance of BTC as legal tender, also marked that the price of Bitcoin for each cycle was first $63000, then $69000. Afterwards, everything went downhill! However, halving is not just news, but a fundamental change in the way Bitcoin is mined and issued. Currently, over 19 million BTCs have been mined, and by the time the last Cong was mined in 2140, there were less than 2 million remaining, and time is running out.

2. BlackRock Bitcoin Spot ETF (January 2024)

BlackRock, a large asset management company that manages $9 trillion in assets, has finally submitted an application for a trading platform trading fund (ETF) or spot Bitcoin ETF for BTC. If the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approves this proposal and takes into account the successful history of BlackRock ETF576-1, it is highly likely that it will enhance the image of BTC in mainstream adoption and become a recognized safe asset class that can be managed by fully managed institutions. Supervised by regulatory agencies and traded like any ordinary stock.

Bitcoin spot ETFs may be the most optimistic news that Bitcoin faithful have been waiting for for over a decade. The reasons are as follows:

• It will attract new retail and institutional inventors who were previously cautious about crypto assets.
• It can stimulate the widespread adoption of Bitcoin, enhance its liquidity, reduce its volatility, and promote more predictable price fluctuations.
• Most importantly, its regulated nature may be its most prominent feature, as government supervision can directly prevent any illegal financial activities planned by malicious actors.

Mark Yusko, Managing Director of Morgan Creek Capital Management, predicts that BlackRock will not be the only participant in the Bitcoin ETF field. The SEC may also quickly approve long-awaited ETF proposals from applicants from other global asset management companies such as ARKInvest and Fidelity.

Although some analysts such as Bloomberg believed in August that the probability of ETF approval this year was 75%, it is unlikely to occur in 2023.

3. Ethereum sharding elevates Web3 to a new level

Cheaper and faster transactions are some key factors that have led to the large-scale adoption of decentralized platforms. Given the enormous scale and influence of Ethereum, achieving these two goals may have an impact on the constantly evolving Web3 industry, which requires faster and cheaper decentralization of power. Ethereum's current Layer2Rollup solution has demonstrated its ability as a fast and secure data processing method. But they are often expensive, which offsets the benefits they provide.

The platform is actively researching a set of solutions to address this issue. The first part it aims to implement is the so-called ProtoDanksharing (also known as EIP-4844), which aims to reduce Rollup costs by creating so-called "data blobs" that basically hold on chain data, but expire after 1 to 3 months.

This means that these data packets do not need to be permanently stored on Ethereum, which is costly. In fact, over 90% of the total cost is only used to maintain these massive amounts of data, no matter when they are needed. The aggregated data can still be saved, but the responsibility for storing them now falls on the entities that actually need them, including indexing services, cryptocurrency trading platforms, and so on.

Once implemented, Ethereum expects that data blocks can significantly improve the platform's throughput and reduce its transaction costs. Its goal is to launch Proto Danksharding (named after its developer) by the end of 2023. After this initial stage, the decentralized giant will continue to develop the next stage, called Danksharding, aimed at promoting millions of transactions per second.

These upgrades have brought huge benefits, which may trigger the influx of new encrypted decentralized applications (dApps) into the Ethereum platform.

4. A New Narrative Led by Artificial Intelligence Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin Ordinal Numbers

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in 2023 has pushed up the prices of blockchain platforms that incorporate it into their products. Popular examples of web3 services that provide "encrypted AI" include SingularityNET, PhalaNetwork, and Cortex. Given the increasing popularity of artificial intelligence, making it a core feature may enhance the attractiveness of cryptocurrency based platforms and increase the demand for their digital currencies.

As blockchain and artificial intelligence continue to interweave in Web3, and new metaverse narratives continue to emerge, it is expected that digital asset technology tailored to these use cases will once again dominate the main stage.

Of course, after the upgrade of Taprot this year, Bitcoin has also seen a controversial new use case, as the BRC20Token standard and Bitcoin ordinal have created new demand for blockspace on its network, driving transaction costs and prices to over $30000 in 2019.