$4.3 billion airdropped. $2.3 billion stolen. Bitcoin at $100,000.
In 2024, crypto teetered between fortune and fraud. AI agents ran trading desks and started cults. Memecoins pumped millions overnight and collapsed by morning. Pump.fun turned livestreams into sideshows, with influencers locked in dog cages to pump tokens.
It wasn’t just chaos — it was high stakes and broken rules. Blockchain gaming hit the mainstream. Celebrities pushed tokens and faced lawsuits. Real-world assets (RWAs) flooded DeFi, blurring the line between crypto and traditional finance. Trump’s election win fueled speculation, but regulation lagged, leaving markets exposed to scams and flash crashes.
This is 2024 — booms, busts, and the bets that shaped crypto’s wildest year yet.
1. Bitcoin Breaks $100,000: ETFs and Halving Fuel the Surge
Bitcoin shattered records in 2024, crossing $100,000 for the first time as institutional adoption and supply shocks drove demand.
- January 10, 2024: The SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETFs, opening the floodgates for institutional investors through funds from BlackRock, Fidelity, and Ark Invest.
- March 2024: Prices surged past $73,000, fueled by ETF inflows and renewed investor confidence.
- April 2024 Halving: Bitcoin’s block reward dropped from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, tightening supply and adding upward pressure on prices.
- November 2024: Following Donald Trump’s election victory and his pro-crypto stance, Bitcoin soared to $100,000, boosted by speculation about a U.S. Bitcoin reserve.
By the end of 2024, Bitcoin wasn’t just an asset — it became a political statement and a hedge against inflation and chaos. But how did the BIGGEST LIQUIDATION since 2021 shake the markets this year? Dive into the details in this analysis.
2. Ethereum Joins the ETF Club and Powers DeFi Growth
Ethereum solidified its dominance in DeFi and NFTs while gaining institutional backing through ETF approvals and Layer 2 upgrades.
- July 23, 2024: The SEC approved Ethereum ETFs, attracting institutional capital and reinforcing Ethereum’s role in decentralized finance (DeFi).
- DeFi Expansion: Layer 2 solutions like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base reduced fees and boosted transaction speeds, driving adoption across lending, staking, and decentralized exchanges.
- Staking Surge: Over 30 million ETH was locked into validators, increasing network security and providing yield opportunities for long-term holders.
- NFT Revival: Fractional ownership through ERC-404 tokens renewed interest in NFTs, improving liquidity and accessibility.
Ethereum evolved from a developer’s platform into the foundation of decentralized finance, attracting investors, builders, and institutions alike.
3. Hyperliquid’s HYPE Airdrop: $4.3 Billion and No VCs
Hyperliquid’s HYPE token turned airdrops into life-changing windfalls.
- November 29, 2024: Hyperliquid airdropped 310 million HYPE tokens — worth over $4.3 billion — to early adopters.
- Launch price: $2 → Peak price: $30+, with average payouts of $80,000+ per wallet.
- No VC Allocations: Hyperliquid’s community-first approach excluded venture capitalists, favoring users over speculators.
What Is Hyperliquid?
A decentralized perpetual futures exchange, Hyperliquid delivers low-latency trading and no gas fees, rivaling centralized platforms like Binance while maintaining trustless, non-custodial systems.
Beyond Trading — A Layer 1 Evolution
The HyperEVM upgrade transformed Hyperliquid into a Layer 1 blockchain, supporting smart contracts and DeFi protocols with speed and scalability.
Hyperliquid’s HYPE drop wasn’t just an airdrop — it became a blueprint for decentralized ecosystems, proving community-first models can thrive without venture capital influence.
Wanna know how Hyperliquid turned an airdrop into $4.3 BILLION — and how we spotted it early? Don’t miss this breakdown: How Hyperliquid Cracked the Code to Liquidity and Community.
4. AI Agents Take Over: From Trading Bots to Digital Cults
AI dominated crypto narratives, with agents evolving from tools to personalities and even religions.
Truth Terminal and $GOAT:
- Started as an AI chatbot experiment, Truth Terminal attracted followers with cryptic memes and philosophical debates.
- Its $GOAT token hit a $600 million market cap within weeks, blending AI belief systems with financial speculation.
Curious About the Future of AI and Finance?
Truth Terminal began as a bold AI experiment and quickly evolved into a cultural movement. With its $GOAT token reaching $600 million, it’s reshaping the intersection of AI, memes, and speculation. Discover the Truth Behind $GOAT
ARC Agents and AI XBT:
- ARC Agents simulated human players in esports tournaments, reshaping blockchain gaming.
- AI XBT automated crypto trading strategies, outperforming human traders and offering data-driven market predictions.
Virtuals Protocol:
- Enabled tokenized AI agents that operated autonomously across social media, gaming, and finance platforms.
- Raised over $3 billion in market cap, with 150,000+ wallets participating.
AI agents proved software can have personalities, build fanbases, and generate wealth — all without human control.
5. Memecoins: Humor, Speculation, and Volatility
Memecoins defined 2024’s wild speculation culture, blending humor, viral trends, and reckless trading into billion-dollar markets. These tokens blurred the lines between financial assets and internet memes, creating massive shockwaves and catastrophic busts.
- Fartcoin ($FART): Skyrocketed to $1 billion after a late-night TV mention, only to collapse in days, exposing the fragility of meme-driven markets.
- PNUT Token: Rallied and dumped within hours, showing how hype cycles turned quick profits into heavy losses.
- FWOG, PEPE, and POPCAT: Built cult-like communities through TikTok trends, pushing prices to unsustainable highs before sudden drops.
What’s Next for AI-Driven Memecoins?
As speculation shifts, AI-powered memecoins are taking center stage — blurring lines between tech innovation and viral hype. See Why Whales Are Betting Big on AI Memecoins
Beyond Hype — Memecoins as Social Experiments
Memecoins reflected market psychology, showing how tribalism, humor, and gambling instincts drive crypto speculation. While some became symbols of community identity, others collapsed under the weight of manipulation and poor fundamentals.
The rise and fall of memecoins in 2024 revealed deep flaws in market behavior — highlighting how viral trends create opportunities but also leave behind broken communities and legal battles.
6. Celebrity Coins: Fame, Scams, and Lawsuits
Celebrity-backed cryptocurrencies turned fame into fuel for speculation and scandal in 2024. From viral launches to insider trading accusations, these coins exposed gaps in regulation and investor vulnerability in influencer-driven markets.
The Rise and Fall of Celebrity Tokens
- Andrew Tate’s $DADDY Coin: Launched via Pump.fun, hitting a $300 million peak before crashing 90% amid insider trading allegations and accusations of market manipulation.
- Caitlyn Jenner’s $JENNER Coin: Surged to a $100 million valuation before facing lawsuits and SEC scrutiny. Allegations tied to promoter Sahil Arora sparked class-action lawsuits over misleading promotions and market manipulation.
- HawkTuah Coin ($HAWK): Collapsed immediately after launch, serving as a cautionary tale about hype-driven rug pulls and influencer-backed schemes.
- Was $HAWK Just Another Viral Scam?
From meme sensation to market disaster — explore how HawkTuah Coin went from trending to tanking in record time. Here’s how CRYPTO JUST GOT SPIT ON BY HAWK TUAH GIRL. - Cardi B’s $WAP: Promised utility but delivered controversy, leaving investors questioning celebrity accountability.
- Sydney Sweeney’s Meme Token: Allegedly promoted fraudulently, ending in community backlash and further legal scrutiny.
Patterns of Exploitation and Manipulation
Celebrity coins thrived on social media hype, targeting fans and retail investors with promises of quick gains. Many launches featured pump-and-dump schemes, where early insiders cashed out, leaving new investors with losses.
Promoters and influencers blurred the line between marketing and fraud, exploiting parasocial relationships with their audiences to fuel speculation. Some cases, like Jenner’s, raised questions about liability, sparking debates over whether influencers should face stricter regulation.
Lawsuits and Regulatory Pressure
The fallout saw class-action lawsuits and SEC investigations targeting both tokens and celebrity endorsers. These cases highlighted legal gray areas in crypto marketing and raised questions about enforcement gaps for securities laws.
Regulators began treating celebrity-backed tokens as unregistered securities, signaling a potential crackdown on influencer-led promotions and false advertising.
7. Pump.fun: Live-Streamed Chaos and Broken Dreams
Pump.fun became crypto’s wildest stage, mixing performance art, speculation, and financial chaos. It turned livestreams into pump-and-dump spectacles, leaving some rich and others ruined.
DOGCAGE:
- Man locked in a dog cage until the token hit a $25M market cap.
- Livestream hype drove prices up, but values collapsed instantly after his release.
The Toilet Dev: AKA “Krazy SBF”
Some stories make you question humanity. This is one of them. A dev looking suspiciously like Sam Bankman-Fried (hence the nickname “Krazy SBF”) promised to do progressively humiliating stunts as his coin’s market cap grew.
- At $10 million, he shaved his eyebrows live on stream.
- At $20 million, he said he’d, uh, soil himself.
- Now, he’s streaming from a toilet, refusing to leave until the coin hits $50 million.
LUKE 9YEAROLD:
- Coin themed around a fictional child prodigy and his family.
- Ended in a rug-pull, with creators vanishing and taking hundreds of thousands.
Pump.fun showcased crypto’s entertainment-meets-finance era, where hype fueled massive gains and devastating losses — often in the same day.
Curious About the Craziest Memecoin Moments?
From billion-dollar pumps to spectacular crashes, memecoins blurred the line between humor and high-stakes trading. Explore the Wildest Memecoin Stunts Here
8. Blockchain Gaming: Shrapnel, Off the Grid, and More
Blockchain gaming surged in 2024, blending AAA visuals with NFT economies and play-to-earn mechanics.
Shrapnel:
- AAA shooter with NFT weapons and skins.
- Integrated DeFi features for staking and rewards.
Off the Grid:
- Battle royale with blockchain-backed assets.
- Focused on tradable items and dynamic markets.
Ronin Chain:
- Powered Axie Infinity and expanded play-to-earn ecosystems.
- Offered low fees and fast transactions for microtransactions.
Avalanche Subnets:
- Enabled low-cost custom chains for scalable gaming.
- Supported real-time trading and cross-chain liquidity.
Key Trends:
- Tokenized assets for ownership and trading.
- Play-to-earn models creating new income streams.
- DAOs empowering players with governance rights.
Blockchain gaming merged entertainment with finance, proving it’s here to stay.
Want to Know How Blockchain Gaming Took Over in 2024?
From NFT economies to play-to-earn models, blockchain gaming exploded in 2024 — transforming how we play, earn, and invest. Discover the trends, tech, and strategies that fueled this billion-dollar boom. Explore the Evolution of Blockchain Gaming
9. Decentralized Science (DeSci): Crowdfunding Research
DeSci used Web3 tools to fund research, tokenize intellectual property (IP), and promote open collaboration.
- VitaDAO: Funded longevity research through tokenized contributions and community governance.
- AthenaDAO: Focused on women’s health, addressing neglected areas like fertility and menopause.
- Molecule: Tokenized biotech IP, enabling fractional ownership and direct funding for discoveries.
- Sci2Sci: Created decentralized peer reviews and data-sharing networks to improve research reproducibility.
Key Features:
- Crowdfunding Research: Broke down funding barriers for niche projects.
- Tokenized Ownership: Allowed contributors to profit from discoveries.
- Transparent Peer Review: Made evaluations faster and unbiased.
DeSci reimagined scientific funding but still faces hurdles in scaling and regulation.
10. Hacks and Exploits: $2.3 Billion Lost
In 2024, $2.3 billion was stolen through hacks, exploits, and phishing scams, despite efforts to improve security frameworks.
Major Attacks:
- Orbit Bridge: $100M lost due to cross-chain vulnerabilities.
- KyberSwap: $47M stolen from liquidity pool flaws.
North Korean Hackers: Lazarus Group targeted bridges and wallets, laundering funds through mixers.
Emerging Threats:
- AI Phishing Bots tricked users into signing malicious transactions.
- Smart Contract Exploits targeted multi-chain protocols.
Mitigation Efforts:
- Insurance Protocols offered loss coverage for DeFi hacks.
- Cybersecurity DAOs funded audits and rapid responses to threats.
- AI Security Tools provided real-time monitoring.
Despite stronger defenses, hackers adapted quickly, exposing ongoing vulnerabilities in DeFi and cross-chain systems. Is DeFi Still a Breeding Ground for Scammers? From phishing bots to multi-chain exploits, learn how cybercriminals evolved — and what defenses emerged to fight back. Uncover the Dark Side of DeFi Security
11. Real-World Assets (RWA): Tokenizing Finance
Real-World Assets (RWA) became crypto’s bridge to traditional finance (TradFi) in 2024, unlocking billions in liquidity through tokenization.
BlackRock’s BUIDL Fund:
- Launched a tokenized fund focused on U.S. Treasury bonds.
- Surpassed $5 billion in assets under management (AUM) within six months.
ONDO and CHEX:
- ONDO Finance led in tokenized bonds, providing yield opportunities through stable, real-world backing.
- CHEX focused on tokenized mortgages, pushing adoption of debt-based assets in DeFi.
Use Cases:
- Real Estate: Tokenized properties allowed fractional ownership and liquidity pools.
- Commodities: Assets like gold and oil became programmable tokens for on-chain trading.
- Government Bonds: Brought stable yield opportunities into DeFi ecosystems.
TradFi Meets DeFi:
- Enabled institutional investors to enter crypto markets while retaining exposure to traditional assets.
- Created liquidity bridges between blockchains and banks.
Challenges:
- Regulatory Uncertainty: Questions about compliance and securities laws slowed mainstream adoption.
- Interoperability Issues: Cross-chain platforms struggled to maintain security and stability for tokenized assets.
RWAs showed how crypto can modernize TradFi, but regulations and infrastructure gaps remain barriers to scaling adoption.
12. Crypto and Politics: Trump’s Pro-Crypto Push
Politics and crypto collided in 2024, with Donald Trump’s election victory in November sparking bullish sentiment and shaping regulatory debates.
Trump’s Pro-Crypto Stance:
- Accepted crypto donations for his campaign, signaling support for blockchain innovation.
- Pledged to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world” by promoting legal clarity and favorable regulations.
- Proposed creating a Bitcoin reserve as a strategic asset for the U.S. economy.
FIT21 Bill:
- Aimed to transfer crypto oversight from the SEC to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
- Seen as a friendlier framework for crypto firms, reducing regulatory uncertainty.
- Passed in the House but stalled in the Senate, leaving the industry in limbo.
- Crypto-backed super PACs spent over $135 million to elect pro-crypto candidates.
- Key victories included flipping Senate seats in Ohio and Arizona, removing anti-crypto voices.
Key Policy Debates:
- Stablecoins: Pushed for clearer rules on issuance and collateral requirements.
- DeFi Governance: Discussions focused on compliance frameworks without undermining decentralization.
- ETFs Expansion: Advocated for Ethereum ETFs and broader acceptance of tokenized securities.
Global Impact:
- U.S. policies influenced international markets, as other nations scrambled to align regulations to attract crypto investment.
Trump’s presidency fueled optimism for crypto’s future, but regulatory battles over stablecoins, DeFi, and exchange oversight remain unresolved.
13. ERC-404: Redefining Token Standards with Semi-Fungible Tokens
ERC-404 emerged in 2024 as an experimental token standard blending the fungibility of ERC-20 tokens with the uniqueness of ERC-721 NFTs. It introduced semi-fungible tokens (SFTs) that redefined ownership, liquidity, and trading mechanics for NFTs and digital assets.
Hybrid Model:
- Combines ERC-20 fungible tokens and ERC-721 NFTs into a single standard.
- Enables NFTs to be split into smaller tradable units or merged back into full ownership.
Fractional Ownership and Liquidity:
- Allows investors to own fractions of NFTs, making high-value assets more accessible.
- Adds liquidity to previously illiquid NFT markets by enabling partial sales through decentralized exchanges.
Dynamic Minting and Burning:
- Ensures the token supply adjusts automatically based on NFT transactions.
- Minting occurs when tokens are combined into full NFTs, while burning happens when NFTs are split into fractions.
- Maintains scarcity while enabling flexibility in trading and transfers.
Notable Projects:
- PANDORA: The first ERC-404 implementation, combining NFT ownership with tokenized liquidity pools.
- DeFrogs: Focused on deflationary mechanics and gamified NFT interactions, showcasing the standard’s versatility in DeFi and collectibles.
Use Cases:
- NFT Marketplaces: Enables fractional trades of rare digital art and high-value assets.
- Gaming and Metaverse: Supports programmable ownership for in-game items and virtual land parcels.
- DeFi Collateral: Fractional NFTs can be staked, borrowed against, or pooled as collateral in lending protocols.
Challenges and Risks:
- No Official Approval: ERC-404 remains experimental and is not yet recognized as an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP).
- Lack of Audits: Concerns over security vulnerabilities due to limited testing and formal audits.
- DeFi Compatibility Issues: Many existing protocols and smart contracts are incompatible with the hybrid standard.
ERC-404 brought new possibilities to NFT liquidity and fractional ownership, but security gaps and DeFi integration hurdles raised questions about scalability and long-term adoption.
Curious About ERC-404’s Role in the Next Crypto Boom?
Is ERC-404 a glimpse into the future of token standards or just another short-lived experiment in crypto hype? Discover the innovations, challenges, and market reactions shaping its evolution — and whether it’s here to stay. Dive Deeper into ERC-404’s Story of Innovation and Speculation
2024 wasn’t just a year in crypto — it was a revolution. Record-breaking rallies, AI-driven trading, and memecoin frenzies blurred the lines between finance and culture. And if 2024 proved anything, it’s this — crypto doesn’t rest. It reinvents.
Through booms, crashes, and scandals, this year proved that crypto isn’t just about money — it’s about experimentation, culture, and the relentless pursuit of innovation. Whatever comes next, a time to be remembered as one of crypto’s most defining eras.
Astraea is an analyst with a rich background in finance, having worked at various research firms where he gained deep insights into investments and corporate strategies. Now, he blends this expertise with a unique perspective, crafting content for those venturing in finance, tech, or crypto. For more information check out Ascendant Finance.
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A Word of Caution
Nothing in this article is financial advice. This was written purely for entertainment purposes, and we don’t hold or own any of the coins mentioned. If you’re tempted to jump into the meme coin frenzy, remember to do your own research — or at least check if the developer is live-streaming from a dog cage or toilet first.
