Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Why 2021 was cryptocurrency's wildest year yet

Why 2021 was cryptocurrency's wildest year yet

Bitcoin hit dizzying new heights, NFTs burst onto the scene and memecoins gained ground. All in all, 2021 has been a wild ride for crypto.

Bitcoin close to $70,000 (€61,800), "memecoins" worth billions of dollars, a blockbuster Wall Street listing and a sweeping Chinese crackdown: 2021 was the wildest yet for cryptocurrencies, even by the sector's volatile standards.

Digital assets started the year with a stampede of cash from investors large and small. And Bitcoin and its kin were rarely out of the spotlight since, with the language of crypto becoming firmly entrenched in the investor lexicon.

Here is a look at some of the major trends that dominated cryptocurrencies this year.

Bitcoin is still no.1


The original cryptocurrency held the crown as the biggest and most well-known token - though not without a host of challengers biting at its heels.

Bitcoin soared over 120 per cent from January 1 to a then-record of almost $65,000 (€57,400) in mid-April. Fuelling it was a tsunami of cash from institutional investors, growing acceptance by major corporations such as Tesla and Mastercard, and an increasing embrace by Wall Street banks.

Spurring investor interest was Bitcoin's purported inflation-proof qualities - it has a capped supply - as record-breaking stimulus packages fuelled rising prices. The promise of quick gains amid record-low interest rates, and easier access through fast-developing infrastructure, also helped attract buyers.

Emblematic of Bitcoin's mainstream embrace was major US exchange Coinbase's $86 billion (€75.9 billion) listing in April, the biggest yet of a cryptocurrency company.

"It's graduated into the sphere where it is traded by the sort of people that are taking bets on treasuries and equities," said Richard Galvin of crypto fund Digital Capital Asset Management.

Yet the token stayed volatile. It slumped 35 per cent in May before soaring to a new all-time high of $69,000 (€60,900) in November, as inflation spiralled across Europe and the United States.

Prominent sceptics remain, with JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon calling it "worthless".

Peaks and troughs: Bitcoin's 2021 rollercoaster


The rise of the memecoins


Even as Bitcoin remained the go-to for investors dipping their toes into crypto, a panoply of new - some would say joke - tokens entered the sector.

"Memecoins" - a loose collection of coins ranging from Dogecoin and Shiba Inu to Squid Game that have their roots in web culture - often have little practical use.

Dogecoin, launched in 2013 as a Bitcoin spinoff, soared over 12,000 per cent to an all-time high in May before slumping almost 80 per cent by mid-December. Shiba inu, which references the same breed of Japanese canine as Dogecoin, briefly muscled its way into the 10 largest digital currencies.

Who let the doge out?


The memecoin phenomenon was linked to the "Wall Street Bets" movement, where retail traders coordinated online to pile into stocks such as GameStop Corp, squeezing hedge funds' short positions.

Many of the traders - often stuck at home with spare cash during coronavirus lockdowns - turned to crypto, even as regulators voiced warnings about volatility.

"It's all about the mobilisation of finance," said Joseph Edwards, head of research at crypto broker Enigma Securities.

"While assets like DOGE and SHIB may in themselves be purely speculative, the money coming into them is coming from an instinct of 'why shouldn't I earn on my money, savings?'"

Rise of the memecoins


Regulation: The (large) elephant in the room

As money poured into crypto, regulators fretted over what they saw as its potential to enable money laundering and threaten global financial stability.

Long sceptical of crypto - a rebel technology invented to undermine traditional finance - watchdogs called for more powers over the sector, with some warning consumers over volatility.

With new rules looming, crypto markets were skittish to the possible risk of a clampdown.

When Beijing placed curbs on crypto in May, Bitcoin tanked almost 50 per cent, dragging the wider market down with it.

"Regulatory risk is everything because those are the rules of the road that people live by and die by in financial services," said Stephen Kelso, global head of markets at ITI Capital.

"The regulators are making good progress, they're catching up".

NFTs


As memecoin trading went viral, another formerly obscure corner of the crypto complex also grabbed the limelight.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) - strings of code stored on the blockchain digital ledger that represent unique ownership of artworks, videos or even tweets - exploded in 2021.

In March, a digital artwork by US artist Beeple sold for nearly $70 million (€61.7 million) at Christie's, among the three most expensive pieces by a living artist sold at auction.

The sale heralded a stampede for NFTs.

Sales in the third-quarter hit $10.7 billion (€9.4 billion), up over eight-fold from the previous three months. As volumes peaked in August, prices for some NFTs rose so quickly speculators could "flip" them for profit in days, or even hours.

NFT sales on OpenSea


Soaring crypto prices that spawned a new cohort of crypto-wealthy investors - as well as predictions for a future of online virtual worlds where NFTs take centre stage - helped fuel the boom.

Cryptocurrencies and NFTs' popularity may also be linked to a decline in social mobility, said John Egan, CEO of BNP Paribas-owned research company L'Atelier, with younger people drawn to their potential for swift gains as soaring prices put traditional assets like houses out of reach.

While some of the world's top brands, from Coca-Cola to Burberry, have sold NFTs, still-patchy regulation meant larger investors largely steered clear.

"I don't see a situation where licensed financial institutions are actively and aggressively trading (these) digital assets in the next three years," Egan said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×