India Preparing for a CBDC-Driven Economy: Central Bank Governor’s Vision
Outgoing Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das believes that the digital rupee has the potential to transform India's economy.
Key Takeaways:
- Bitcoin’s Record High (2024): Surged past $92,500, marking its highest since 2021, driven by US political shifts and renewed investor confidence.
- Mt. Gox Attack (2011): Bitcoin plummeted 99.9%, hitting $0.01 after a major hack. Recovery was swift, but the incident nearly destroyed early confidence in cryptocurrency.
- China’s Crackdown (2013): Bitcoin fell 51% after China banned bank trading of crypto. It took years of volatility before a full recovery.
- Market Crash (2017): Bitcoin hit $19,497 before crashing over 80% by 2018, fueled by the ICO boom and over-leveraged investments.
- Pandemic Plunge (2020): Bitcoin fell 40% but rebounded within a month, driven by demand for digital, borderless assets.
- FTX Collapse (2022): Scandals knocked Bitcoin to $16,000 before a strong recovery began in 2023.
Crypto’s history shows resilience through crashes, always rebounding stronger.
Bitcoin just posted a massive incline, hitting a record high for the first time since November 2021.
Based on the political landscape in the United States, the gain in market values in the crypto space indicates yet another recovery after major market crashes. Some of the biggest crashes the cryptocurrency market has faced before – and it has always pulled back a recovery.
June 2011, the Mt Gox attack
Just two years after Bitcoin was launched, it suffered its first major crash. In the first half of the year, it surged from $2,00 to $32,00 gaining attention to the industry from early adopters. At the time, Bitcoin was predominantly traded on Mt Gox, the only exchange that facilitated easy peer-to-peer transactions. After its initial surge, it had fallen to around $17.50, a value far below the $32,00 at which it had been trading, but not the worst of what it was to see.
On 19th June, Mt Gox was attacked and the hack caused Bitcoin to fall to a value of just $0.01. The price of Bitcoin fell 99.9% in just 24 hours, looking at the worst crash the market has seen still to this day. It was a flash crash and the value of Bitcoin returned to some form of stability not long after. Mt Gox, however, did not recover and still has a reputation for nearly being the death of the leading cryptocurrency.
December 2013, China’s first crackdown
In 2013, Bitcoin trading had taken off to a certain degree and it was the first time the cryptocurrency was tracked by any sort of software. On December 3rd 2013, Bitcoin saw its all-time high trading price at the time of $1151.17, a massive 475% increase from the previous month’s value of $200. Not even three weeks later, China placed its first major crackdown on cryptocurrency and banned all banks in the country from allowing trading. A major sell-off occurred and Bitcoin’s price fell by 51% to just $559 on December 18th.
A month later, it had regained value to see a nearly $1000 price tag but it spent the next two years in extreme volatility. Trading between $200 and $650 from March 2014 to June 2016, when it finally saw a turn, which then headed into the bull run of 2017.
December 2017, the crash of the entire market
In previous crashes, Bitcoin was the only cryptocurrency in the market – making it the only collateral to a crash. Ethereum entered the picture in 2015, marking the rise of altcoins.
Bitcoin had a fantastic 2017 – mostly. From January 2017 to December, Bitcoin gained over 2152% from trading around $870 at the beginning of the year to rise and see its all-time high at the time of $19,497 on December 15th. Not even a week later, Bitcoin tanked by nearly 30%, crashing to just over $13,800. From there, the leading cryptocurrency kept struggling to regain any sort of strength for all of 2018. By February 2018, it had fallen below $7,000 and it spent most of 2018 trading below $10,000, 50% of its all-time high. In December 2018, Bitcoin was looking at a trading value of less than $3,300; over 80% less than it had the year before.
Ethereum suffered the same fate, falling from trading around $1,448 in December 2017 to a value of just over $85 a year later; crashing down by 93% from its record high at the time.
The initial coin offering (ICO) boom from June 2017 made things worse, and the market crashing brought the death of cryptocurrency projects that would not be able to recover. Investors who had given their money to support projects in need of funding in exchange for the project’s tokens were left holding value-less tokens, leaving a sour taste in many investor’s mouths.
It would take another two years for trust to regain in the cryptocurrency market, and in 2021 Bitcoin’s price began to see some major gains again. But that’s not before another crash rocked the market.
March 2020, the beginning of a global pandemic
The global crisis emerged with the rise of Covid-19 cases across the world. With national lockdowns, the closing of borders, and uncertainty across sectors and industries, the fear was rife in all markets – with cryptocurrency being no exception.
With investors pulling from stock, equities, and commodities, global economics were left in shambles – quickly. Risk-on assets took an unsurprising knock and Bitcoin’s price fell in the course of 24 hours by nearly 40%, trading from just under $8,000 to see a trading value of $4,975.
This crash, however, represented one of the least impactful declines in terms of the time it took to recover. Investors took to the digital asset soon after, as a result of a newfound need for easy cross-border payments and hygiene compared to cash. Within a month, Bitcoin was back to trading above $8,000 and the increase kept going on a steady trajectory. In January 2021, Bitcoin tagged above $40,000 for the first time and nine months later saw its all-time high (currently of all time) of $69,044.77.
November 2021 – January 2022
In November 2021, Bitcoin saw its all-time high value and then the bears came in.
Falling from $69,044.77 to just above $35,000 in two months, Bitcoin’s fall from a high point in contrast to previous years doesn’t look so intense. The market took a long time to recover from this, reaching $64,000 only again in November 2022.
November 2022, the crash of FTX
The plummet in 2022 continued and as Bitcoin was showing recovery signs, the news of the collapse of FTX and the scandal of Sam Bankman-Fried broke. Bitcoin’s price was knocked further and it was hovering around $16,000. At the time, the last time Bitcoin had been this low was in 2020.
Late 2022 – Present: A strong rebound
In the last 22 months, with one Bitcoin halving in April 2024, Bitcoin has recovered back to peak high prices to break the all-time high in March 2024, reaching over $73,000.
Over the past few months, the price had been gently rolling in a price range between $58,000 and over $70.000. In the last quarter of the year, it shot up at the re-election of President Donald Trump, hitting a record high at over $92,500.