The main events of the year and the latest news of the past weeks

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  1. The fourth halving in the BTC network
  2. What Happened to Bitcoin After the Halving
  3. It took 10 years to launch the BTC ETF
  4. Crypto exchange Bitget has announced the merger of its Bitget Wallet Token (BWB) and Bitget Token (BGB) to create a single ecosystem token.
  5. Interpol is looking for the creator of the HEX token, Richard Hart.

The fourth halving in the BTC network

On April 20, 2024, the fourth halving took place in the Bitcoin network, which halved the BTC mining speed. Instead of 6.25 coins, miners now mine 3.125 every ten minutes.

Halvings are necessary to maintain the value of the largest cryptocurrency on the market. They occur every 210,000 mined blocks - approximately once every four years. If the speed of the BTC network remains the same, the last halving will occur in 2140.

What Happened to Bitcoin After the Halving

The Bitcoin price barely reacted to the halving. For a long time, the cryptocurrency was trading near the $64,000 mark. However, after each decrease in the mining speed, BTC usually updated its historical maximum. For example, after the halving on November 28, 2012, Bitcoin set a new record on November 30, 2013 at $1,154. That is, it took the cryptocurrency 367 days to reach a new ATH.

In 2024, everything happened much faster. It took Bitcoin 229 days to reach its all-time high above $100,000. By the way, according to BIC survey participants, the ATH update was the most memorable event of 2025. Many people said that miners would have a hard time after the fourth halving. In order to remain profitable, some mining companies diversified their activities. Thus, many bet on artificial intelligence (AI).

It took 10 years to launch the BTC ETF

SEC

It took issuers a decade to get the SEC to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF. A lot happened during that time, including a high-profile court battle between the regulator and asset manager Grayscale. It played a major role in the final decision. January 10, 2024, went down in history as the day spot BTC ETFs were approved in the US. The Commission approved applications from 11 issuers, including Bitwise, Grayscale, Hashdex, BlackRock, Valkyrie, BZX, Invesco, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton.

The emergence of spot Bitcoin ETFs on the US market was one of the factors behind the explosive growth of BTC in 2024. Thanks to this instrument, the cryptocurrency attracted a huge number of institutional investors. Now the coin is of interest not only to crypto traders, but also to global corporations and even entire countries.

Crypto exchange Bitget has announced the merger of its Bitget Wallet Token (BWB) and Bitget Token (BGB) to create a single ecosystem token.

Bitget Token Updates ATH According to the announcement, the new BGB token will be used in Fair Launchpool projects and to pay gas fees in multi-chain blockchains. Bitget also plans to integrate the token into public blockchains and DeFi ecosystems. The company wants to make BGB the main asset for lending and staking. The news sent Bitget Token (BGB) to a record high of $7.79. Its market cap at the time of writing exceeds $10.3 billion. BGB has risen 30% in a day and has gained over 350% in December.

This contrasts with the broader crypto market, which has seen significant liquidations. By comparison, BNB, the largest exchange-traded token, is up just 13% this month. Bitcoin has also fallen below $95,000, despite reaching $100,000 in early December.

The merger will not change the total supply of BGB. The exchange rate will be 11.68 BWB for 1 BGB. Bitget will wind down its BWB-related services on December 27.

Interpol is looking for the creator of the HEX token, Richard Hart.

Interpol has issued a red card (notice) against US citizen Richard James Schuler, born October 9, 1979. Schuler is better known as Richard Hart. A red card is an international request for the detention of a wanted person for subsequent extradition. According to EUMostWanted, Schuler has failed to pay taxes amounting to hundreds of millions of euros. In addition, he is also accused of armed assault on a 16-year-old victim.

Richard Hart ignores all accusations from Interpol. He claims that he is actually trying to make this world a better place, but some people are trying to stop him. The creator of HEX is sure that the new Donald Trump administration will be friendlier to him and his projects.

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