Bitcoin’s wild ride toward $100,000

(This Nov. 21 story has been corrected to fix the Nov. 12, 2024 entry to remove reference to cryptocurrency market value hitting $3 trillion ‘for the first time’)

(Reuters) – neared $100,000 for the first time on Thursday as the election of Republican Donald Trump as president fuelled expectations that his administration will create a friendly regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies.    

The world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency has more than doubled from this year’s low of $38,505 and is up about 45% in the two weeks since Trump’s sweeping election win. 

Here are key events in bitcoin’s journey towards $100,000: 

2008: Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym used by the cryptocurrency’s presumed developer, introduces the concept of bitcoin

2010: The first retail transaction takes place when a user pays 10,000 bitcoin for two Papa John’s (NASDAQ:) pizzas

2013: As bitcoin’s popularity grows, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, co-founders of crypto exchange Gemini, file their first application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to create a spot bitcoin ETF. 

Grayscale Investments launches the Bitcoin Investment Trust, an open-ended private bitcoin trust. 

2016: The Winklevoss brothers adjust their application numerous times, such as the exchange on which the product would be traded. They also file amendments naming State Street (NYSE:) as administrator. Grayscale files with the SEC to convert its bitcoin trust into a spot bitcoin ETF.

2017: The SEC rejects the Winklevoss application on the grounds bitcoin markets were not mature enough. Grayscale withdraws its first attempt to convert its trust into an ETF, saying the regulatory environment was not developed enough. 

2018: The SEC rejects the Winklevoss twins’ second application to launch a spot bitcoin ETF, saying cryptocurrency exchanges do not have the necessary controls to prevent manipulation.

2020: Grayscale transforms its trust into an SEC-reporting entity, and its shares begin trading on the pink sheets, for stocks that trade over the counter. Although not an ETF, it is the first publicly traded bitcoin fund in the U.S.

2021: The first spot bitcoin ETF launches in Canada. Gary Gensler replaces Jay Clayton as SEC chair in April. 

In October, the SEC approves the ProShares Bitcoin Trust listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, noting the CME has a satisfactory mechanism for surveilling abuse in the futures market. It is the first U.S.-listed futures-based bitcoin ETF, accumulating $1 billion in assets within its first days of trading – faster than any other ETF.

Also in October, Grayscale again submits an application to the SEC to convert its trust into a spot bitcoin ETF. 

2022: The SEC rejects several applications from would-be spot bitcoin ETF issuers, including SkyBridge, Fidelity and Bitwise. The SEC also rejects Grayscale’s application, prompting the company to sue the agency. 

Amid crashing crypto prices, multiple crypto companies file for bankruptcy, including Three Arrows Capital, Celsius Network and FTX, whose founder Sam Bankman-Fried is also charged with fraud.

2023: 

May: Cathie Woods’ ARK Investments and CBOE Global Markets file for a spot bitcoin ETF, giving the SEC a maximum of 240 days to approve or reject the application.

June: BlackRock (NYSE:) files a spot bitcoin ETF application with the SEC, raising industry hopes the agency may approve the product and sending the price of bitcoin to a one-year high. A flurry of other issuers and exchanges, including Fidelity and Invesco, file bitcoin ETF applications in the subsequent weeks and months. 

August: A federal appeals court in Washington D.C. rules in favor of Grayscale, saying the SEC did not justify why it had rejected its proposal. Europe’s first spot bitcoin ETF begins trading on the Euronext (EPA:) Amsterdam stock exchange. 

October: The SEC opts not to appeal the court’s ruling in the Grayscale case and is required to reexamine the application. 

2024: 

Jan. 10: The SEC approves 11 proposals from issuers including BlackRock, Fidelity and VanEck, among others, to launch spot bitcoin ETFs.

February: Net inflows into the 10 largest ETFs hit $4 billion in the first month, according to LSEG data.    

March: Bitcoin tops $70,000 for the first time to hit a record high, having doubled in value in the five months.    

June: Trump pitches himself as a champion for cryptocurrency and slammed Democrats’ attempts to regulate the sector during a San Francisco fundraiser.    

July: Trump tells a bitcoin conference that, if elected, he will create a strategic national bitcoin stockpile and will ensure the United States is the “crypto capital of the planet.”     

October: The SEC grants “accelerated approval” to U.S. exchanges to list and trade options tied to 11 spot bitcoin ETFs.

Nov 6: Trump is declared winner of the presidential election, sparking a huge rally in a range of assets, with bitcoin being the standout gainer.

Nov 12: Total (EPA:) crypto market cap tops $3 trillion. Year-to-date ETF net inflows hit $25.8 billion, according to LSEG data.

Nov 21: Bitcoin nears $100,000 for the first time in history, driven by a swell of buying from investors in anticipation of Trump dismantling a lot of the regulation around crypto investment. The price has risen by around 40% since the election.