It was another disruptive year in the world of banking. Not only that but it was a huge year for DisruptionBanking. Back in 2018 when the first issue was released (in print) bitcoin was mentioned. It has been mentioned hundreds of times since. But in 2024 its significance changed. Today, we look at the events that shocked markets in 2024. And why.
One may recall how banks approached the topic of cryptocurrencies back in 2018 and 2019. It was a dirty word. It was a scam. Warren Buffett went so far as to call it ‘rat poison’. In 2024 this all changed. Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon, they are all making money out of digital assets today. And their clients are starting to benefit too. But there is one company that has really shaken the market.
The BlackRock Bitcoin ETF
In September this year Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, shared how he was wrong about bitcoin with CNBC.
Market commentators before 2024 had suggested that the bitcoin ETF may emulate the success of a gold ETF from years past. But nobody could have anticipated that in 11 months the BlackRock Bitcoin Fund could reach more than $50 billion in assets. In latest reports, BlackRock now holds more bitcoin than MicroStrategy.
The Rise and Rise of Nvidia
There is a link between bitcoin mining and graphics cards. But there is a bigger link between the huge need for datacentres and what Nvidia does. Some of us may have been considering the future of Web3 when investing in Nvidia. We didn’t necessarily allow for the impact that artificial intelligence would have on the share price.
And it hasn’t stopped there. Literally this week Nvidia bought Run:ai for $700 million.
Having cornered the AI market, Nvidia is after more. The company’s customers, including the likes of Amazon and Microsoft, aren’t slowing down spending on AI accelerators. There is no sign of excess GPUs in the supply chain or anybody hoarding Nvidia products.
Today Nvidia is the second largest company in the world by market cap. It is worth over $3 trillion and has tripled in 2024.
The Arrest of Telegram’s CEO
It was a busy year of geopolitical change across Western economies. The UK and the U.S. both had massive swings in their respective elections and Europe faced new and bigger challenges than ever. Including disinformation.
This is where the story of Paul Durov, CEO and founder of messaging app Telegram, became significant. It’s not just because he is Russian either. Durov is not popular with the government in Russia, never has been. It was due to the rising spectre of ‘disinformation’. The situation caused a momentary flutter in Elon Musk’s tummy too. He started to worry about travelling to Europe where his company has several investments.
To Durov’s thinking, the internet is free. The exchange of ideas ought to be facilitated, not suppressed. Normally it does work like this. The current geopolitical situation doesn’t see it this way though. Let’s see what’s next for the ‘Internet Prophet’ in 2025.
Texas Bitcoin Reserve
What has been accomplished by the President of El Salvador has not gone unnoticed by others. And, until the SEC cleared the use of bitcoin ETFs it still seemed like an exotic concept to back your currency using bitcoin. This changed in 2024.
During our annual stop in Dallas to visit the North American Blockchain Summit it was different.
Last year Hedera and the U.S. Elections took centre stage at the prestigious Blockchain Summit in Texas. This year it was the turn of local politician Giovanni Capriglione to turn heads. Capriglione is the Chairman of the Texas House Pensions, Investments, and Financial Services Committee. He was one of the speakers at the Summit and surprised the audience by stating his desire to advance digital asset adoption at the state government level.
Texas isn’t the only place considering this. Rumours are that there is a lot of pressure being put on the Swiss government to do the same. Relai are just one of the companies pushing this rhetoric. But nobody has gone as far as Texas so far.
The Biggest Game Changer of 2024?
Probably, if you had to name one thing / token / asset that made the biggest impact for institutional investors in 2024, and perhaps in the future. You might have to point to Hedera. What Archax has pioneered together with industry legends like abrdn using Hedera’s hashgraph is verging on the unbelievable. Nobody could have predicted such a change.
It has led to comments from some portfolio managers along the lines of: “Doing a lot of research on tokenized money market options, and I had no idea just how many options are out there or are about to be released. It is pretty overwhelming actually.” Hedera was one of the first. Canton Network was another. There will be more.
As for Hedera, even Donald Trump has jumped onto the bandwagon now:
What about 2025? – Think Quantum Computers… and the topic of Post Quantum Cryprography. It will be everywhere!
Disclaimer:
The Editorial Team at #DisruptionBanking have taken all precautions to ensure that no persons or organisations have been adversely affected or offered any sort of financial advice in this Article.
This Article is most definitely not Financial Advice.
See Also:
The 7 Biggest Capital Markets Disruptors of 2023 | Disruption Banking
The 7 Most Influential Disruptors of Investment Banking in 2021
Larry Fink: Is The BlackRock CEO Leading Bitcoin’s Charge To Wall Street? | Disruption Banking
Will Telegram CEO’s Arrest Dent Tech Investment In Europe? | Disruption Banking
