Coin Telegraph

History shows a rise in stock market indexes may be accompanied by increasing Bitcoin and crypto market prices, albeit in a more volatile manner.

Two-thirds of Americans expect the stock market to gain in 2025, but about the same portion of people expect more political conflict within the US and international discord, a survey shows. 

Management consulting firm Gallup surveyed up to 100,000 people registered in its multimode panel between Dec. 4-15, almost a full month after Republican Donald Trump won the US presidential election.

About 66% of respondents tipped 2025 to be a year when the stock market rises, marking a 30 percentage point increase from the 2023 outlook taken in December 2022, during a period of high inflation and low confidence in the economy.

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10x Research says Ether may not be a smart bet for a much-anticipated 2025 bull run, though other analysts say the jury’s still out.

Markus Thielen, 10x Research’s head of research, said Ether might not be the wisest investment choice for a 2025 bull run, as the asset may deliver underwhelming returns compared with Bitcoin. 

Other analysts said they are waiting for more confirmation from the price charts to see which way it will go.

“While the possibility of a new catalyst cannot be ruled out, we wouldn’t be surprised if Ethereum struggles to deliver meaningful rallies next year,” Thielen said in a Dec. 30 market report.

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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin called out Elon Musk for the "tone of discourse" on X, and cautioned against censoring users with the “banhammer.”

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin called for Elon Musk to “turn down the temperature” amid a heated debate on his platform over foreign tech workers, which has stirred new controversy over free speech.

In a Dec. 31 post to X, Buterin said that while he admired Musk’s willingness to fight for freedom of speech, he recommended that the Tesla CEO calm his “tone of discourse” and ease up on using the “social media banhammer” on X accounts

Buterin’s tweet came in response to an expletive-laden X post from Musk, who was defending the rights of companies to hire immigrants to work in the United States under H-1B visas. 

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Many in the crypto industry have criticized US authorities for sanctioning Tornado Cash smart contract addresses and charging developers with money laundering.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has made a significant contribution toward a legal defense fund for Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev.

According to a Dec. 31 X post from the Juicebox project Free Pertsev and Storm, Buterin donated 50 Ether (ETH) — roughly $170,000 at the time of publication — to Storm’s and Pertsev’s legal aid.

Storm reported that the contribution was roughly 25% of the total $650,000 available to the Tornado Cash developer through JusticeDAO ahead of his trial.

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Sellers continue to cap Bitcoin’s rallies into the intra-day highs as BTC trades in a “void between liquidity.”

After dropping to $91,500 on Dec. 30, Bitcoin bulls made a concerted effort to prevent BTC (BTC) price from closing the year below the neckline of an ominous head-and-shoulders pattern on the daily timeframe. As discussed by Cointelegraph in greater depth in a Dec. 30 article, a confirmation of the head-and-shoulders pattern hints at a downside target in the $80,000 to $76,000 range. 

BTC/USD (spot) Coinbase. Source: TradingView.com

Multiple analysts have cited the importance of holding the $94,000 level to keep BTC trading in its current $92,000 to $100,000 range, and the Dec. 31 intra-day rally to $96,250 reflects this attempt. 

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In an industry often dominated by hype, these 10 projects successfully delivered protocol improvements or new products in 2024.

2024 was a significant year for cryptocurrencies and blockchain networks. It saw the launch of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) in the United States, major protocol upgrades for altcoins, and the release of new infrastructure networks.

Here are 10 crypto projects that implemented major protocol upgrades or shipped a mainnet in 2024, in no particular ranking.

The Avalanche network’s Avalanche9000 upgrade, also known as Etna — touted as the biggest upgrade in the protocol’s history — launched on the Avalanche mainnet on Dec. 16 following a testing phase on the Fuji testnet.

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The Swiss Bitcoiners must rack up 100,000 signatures from Switzerland’s 8.92 million residents by June 30, 2026, to trigger a public referendum.

A fresh proposal to constitutionally mandate the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to hold Bitcoin on its balance sheet has been set in motion by the Swiss federal chancellery on Dec. 31.

The proposal will need to accumulate 100,000 signatures for it to be put to a public referendum, according to Tether’s vice president of Energy and Mining Giw Zanganeh, who helped launch the proposal with Yves Bennaïm, founder and chairman of Swiss Bitcoin nonprofit think tank 2B4CH and eight other Bitcoin advocates.

2B4CH had been preparing to submit documents to the State Chancellery since at least April to renew attempts at a successful proposal after it postponed its first filing in October 2021 — when the idea of a nation-state strategically holding Bitcoin (BTC) was not as common. 

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With every calendar flip comes fresh opportunities. Here are six resolutions every crypto enthusiast should consider for the coming year.

From mainstream adoption to the election of a pro-crypto administration in the US, the past year has solidified crypto’s place as a transformative force within the global economy. The turning of the new year is the perfect time for crypto fans to reflect on, and refine their approach to the digital asset market.

Whether one is a seasoned investor or a passionate newcomer, adopting some meaningful resolutions that change your approach can help you thrive. From spending smarter to educating others, these resolutions aren’t just about personal growth but rather about shaping the future of a technology that’s rewriting the rules of finance.

Despite countless warnings and educational resources, crypto scams continue to claim victims at an alarming rate. The severity of this issue was starkly illustrated on Nov. 14, when a record-breaking 31 rug pulls occurred in a single day, resulting in cumulative losses of $15 million that month alone. 

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Amid a year of high points, challenges remain. How will AI developers deal with a looming data shortage, for instance?

Artificial intelligence enjoyed a banner year in 2024. The frontier technology captured awards, corralled investors, charmed Wall Street and showed that it could reason mathematically — even explaining differential equations. 

It also drew the attention of global regulators, concerned about privacy and safety risks. Others worried that AI might soon evolve into artificial general intelligence (AGI) and then artificial superintelligence — surpassing human cognitive abilities. Catastrophic scenarios were posited and discussed: bioterrorism, autonomous weapons systems and even “extinction-level” events.

Here are 10 of 2024’s AI highlights.

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The network now holds approximately $5 billion worth of stablecoins, mostly made up of USDC.

Solana onboarded an additional $1 billion in stablecoin total value in December, primarily in USD Coin (USDC), according to data from DefiLlama. 

The inflows highlight accelerating stablecoin adoption and the Solana network’s rise to prominence in 2024, particularly in decentralized finance (DeFi).

Solana now hosts approximately $5 billion in stablecoin total value locked (TVL), with nearly $4 billion of that comprising USDC, according to the data.

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