Cryptocurrencies had a wonderful year in 2021. Bitcoin, Ether and other coins had a wide jump and reached a new high higher than the previous ones. Many institutions started offering research and services for the sector. Also, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized finance (DeFi) joined the Crypto currency segment.

it’s a hot topic not only among investors but in popular culture too, Thanks to the of long-standing investors like Elon Musk to that kid from your high school on Facebook.

Dave Abner, head of global development at Gemini, a popular cryptocurrency exchange said “In many ways, 2021 has been a “breakthrough,” “There’s tremendous focus and attention being paid to the crypto industry.”

Now Let’s have a quick look at the top milestones of cryptos in 2021.

Bitcoin added in Balance Sheet of Tesla :

NFT Sale :

Mike Winkelmann — the digital artist known as Beeple went up for auction.On March 11 2021, an NFT of his work was sold for $69 million at Christie’s. The sale positions him “among the top three most valuable living artists,” according to the auction house.

The record-smashing NFT sale came months of increasingly valuable auctions. In October, Winkelmann sold his first series of NFTs, with a pair going for $66,666.66 each. In December, he sold a series of works for $3.5 million total. And last month, one of the NFTs that originally sold for $66,666.66 was resold for $6.6 million. This auction sent a shock to the traditional art world.

NFTs (basically, digital certificates of authenticity) had already started succeeding, and has attracted the concept to fame and encouraged artists, creatives and celebrities of all types to look into creating them.

Memecoins gained popularity

This would become the spark for several incredible runs that the coin would have shortly after. Elon “Doge father” Musk’s tweets, the memecoin went on an absurd run. Many other new coins were inspired by it, including Shiba Inu.

Listing of Coinbase in Nasdaq

The nation’s largest Crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc.’s direct listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange April 14 was a major event in the crypto arena. Shares of Coinbase skyrocketed nearly 60% within minutes of their public-market debut, propelling the nine-year-old company’s market capitalization to more than 12 times its last private valuation of $8 billion in 2018 and marking another instance of booming demand lifting the still-nascent cryptocurrency space to meteoric highs. At one point, Coinbase’s valuation reached up to $112 billion, However it subsequently fell back in volatile trading.

Crypto Crackdown by China

Bitcoin made as Legal Tender by El Salvador

El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender after the country’s Congress on, June 9, 2021, approved President Nayib Bukele’s proposal to embrace the cryptocurrency, a move that delighted the currency’s supporters. With 62 out of 84 possible votes, lawmakers voted in favour of the move to create a law to adopt bitcoin, despite concern about the potential impact on El Salvador’s programme with the International Monetary Fund.

Mr. Bukele touted the use of bitcoin for its potential to help Salvadorans living abroad to send remittances back home, while saying the U.S. dollar will also continue as legal tender. In practice, El Salvador does not have its own currency.

Ethereum’s ‘London Upgrade

One of the biggest benefits of the London upgrade is that it has enabled the Ethereum network to handle many more transactions per second. It will help with scalability and tackle the high transaction fees one of the biggest complaints of small investors or those who make frequent transactions.

US Bitcoin ETF

The market was enthusiastic when the first U.S. bitcoin exchange-traded fund – a bitcoin futures ETF, was launched in the fourth quarter of 2021. Bitcoin climbed from $40,000 toward $65,000 in October, and spurred the visions of $100,000 by the end of the year. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler made an announcement in August about his preference for a bitcoin futures-based ETF. Traders became hopeful that the SEC would approve a bitcoin-linked ETF in October.

This made the cryptocurrency more accessible to retail investors and institutions. 

Metaverse and Defi

Regulations:

Regulators globally are cracking down on cryptocurrencies. Global regulators worry the rise in privately operated currencies could undermine their control of the financial and monetary systems, increase systemic risks, promote financial crime and hurt investors.

China, the world’s largest crypto market, banned all transactions in September. Meanwhile, the U.S. authorities cracked down on certain aspects of the crypto market. Elsewhere, In India, the government has worked on a legislation to regulate use and trading of cryptocurrencies.

Also Bank of England policymakers led by Andrew Bailey have warned of the dangers of investing in such assets.