GM, frens! 🎄

Hope your holidays were cozy and bright - even if this year’s Christmas market action felt more like a gentle snowfall than a blizzard of gains.

We’re rounding out 2024 with humble vibes, grateful for the calm before what we’re hoping will be a storm of opportunity in the new year 🙏 

Today we’re discussing:

• 👀 WRAPPING up 2024: a look back at 2024 in crypto

• 🦛 Vitalik “adopts” a baby hippo - memes EXPLODE

• 🔥 Double XP in Ambire Legends until January 1st!

• ❤️ When degens give back: the heartwarming story of MIRA

Our W3OF degen portfolio stayed relatively snug during the holiday lull - no red-nosed rockets just yet.

But still, we’re not exactly unwrapping lumps of coal, either.

Let’s keep that merry momentum going as we roll into 2025!

🔥 WRAPPING up 2024

A look back at 2024 in crypto 👀 

The end of 2024 has rolled around, and what a trip it’s been for the space.

After all the excitement, anxiety, and nonstop yapping on social media, it’s time to take a breath and recap the biggest hits and misses of the past year 🫡

The halving, the elections and the crypto resurrection

Let’s start with the event everyone had been hyping up since forever: the Bitcoin halving.

• Slated for spring, it cut Bitcoin’s block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC - a pivotal moment that always sets the market ablaze with speculation.

• In the months leading up to the halving, BTC steadily climbed from the mid-$30K range, spurred on by the usual chatter about “incoming supply shock”.

Another wildcard kicked in during the latter half of the year: the U.S. presidential election. 

• As candidates sparred over crypto regulations, taxes, and the possibility of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the market was going crazy with anticipation.

• Some believed the winning administration might bring in clearer guidelines, attracting even more institutional capital.

And sure enough, the closer we got to November, the more momentum crypto gained.

Whether it was pure speculation or genuine optimism about pro-innovation policies, the election chatter definitely added extra juice to Bitcoin’s climb beyond $100K 💣️ 

• Bitcoin marched steadily upward, eventually even smashing through the elusive $100K threshold - something many OGs had been predicting (and dreaming about) for years.

• It may have taken some time to really get going, but once Bitcoin gained momentum, it was off to the races. By year’s end, we’d seen BTC top out around $107K before settling in just below six digits.

Not too shabby for an asset that’s still, in the grand scheme of things, considered “new” 🤷 

Ethereum’s busy dev year 🛠️ 

Meanwhile, Ethereum was hardly twiddling its thumbs. It pushed forward with its much-discussed Dencun upgrade (a quirky nickname combining the Cancun and Deneb proposals).

The network’s developers zeroed in on improving data availability and gas fees ⛽️ - two persistent thorns in Ethereum’s side.

• Sharding on the horizon: The drumbeat for sharding grew louder this year, with testnet demos showing promising throughput. While not fully here yet, the dream of a lightning-fast Ethereum felt more tangible than ever.

• Layer-2 bloom: Solutions like Arbitrum, Optimism, and an array of zero-knowledge rollups made serious inroads, further easing congestion. The “L2 wars,” as some like to call them, heated up, with each scaling solution touting faster speeds and lower fees than the rest 🔥 

The meme machine

One of the most unexpected bright spots in 2024 was Solana - especially when it came to meme coins, edgy NFT experiments, and everything happening in “the trenches” of underground crypto communities 🪖 

• After a patchy 2023 riddled with network hiccups, Solana came roaring back, drawing meme-lovers and degen traders eager for low fees, high speeds, and a vibe that was way more frenetic than Ethereum’s occasionally buttoned-up approach.

• All of a sudden, every week a new meme coin was blowing up on Solana, with communities swearing it was “the next Doge”, “Pepe” or the next whatever.

Sure, most of them tanked just as quickly, but Solana’s reputation as the chain for on the fly experiments and fast trades stuck around.

If you wanted to go full degen, Solana was your go-to chain in 2024.

Altcoins: who stepped up? 🪙 

Not every altcoin made waves in 2024, but a few stood out:

• BNB Chain: Despite CZ going to jail, and the chain becoming mostly a shadow of what it once has been, BNB (BSC) Chain kept a solid user base. Low fees and a busy DeFi scene kept it viable for meme projects and some yield farming schemes 👨‍🌾 

• Avalanche: Its “subnet” approach attracted some gaming and metaverse projects, pushing AVAX to moderate gains. While it didn’t rocket to the top, Avalanche’s ecosystem quietly expanded, especially among devs seeking custom blockchains.

• Tron: Once dismissed, Tron caught a second wind thanks to stablecoin partnerships and a focus on cross-border payments in parts of Asia. The chain’s user numbers crept up, even if the Western media largely ignored it 🤔 

• Arbitrum: As an Ethereum Layer-2, Arbitrum kept reeling in DeFi protocols and NFT marketplaces. Its speed and cost-effectiveness brought bigger user adoption, and rumors swirled about more ecosystem tokens on the horizon. Also you can’t ignore the potential of L3s that are now being built en masse on Arb 🏭️ 

And perhaps the biggest comeback…

• XRP: After years of legal limbo, a crucial ruling in 2024 finally gave Ripple’s token the regulatory clarity it craved.

• Major exchanges rushed to re-list XRP for U.S. users, liquidity soared, and the price shot up to levels not seen since the early hype days. The token’s newfound momentum led to fresh partnerships, giving XRP a renewed place among the year’s top performers 💪 

NFTs & GameFi: steady, but not stale

NFTs didn’t recapture the mania of 2021, but they managed to stay afloat:

• Mainstream brands: Nike, Netflix, and Starbucks all launched NFT-based loyalty or collectible programs, integrating digital assets into real-world experiences 🖼️ 

• GameFi: Gone were the empty token-flip gimmicks (mostly). Projects like Illuvium expansions and fresh indie titles focused on gameplay first.

• Smaller, more passionate communities stuck around, showing that blockchain gaming and NFTs might have legs - if it’s actually fun or usable. Let’s hope they can still manage to follow that direction.

Regulation

For all the dread about a harsh crackdown, 2024 ended up more balanced than many feared:

• U.S. stablecoin bill: Introduced clearer reserve requirements and auditing standards, giving mega-institutions confidence to wade deeper into stablecoin waters 💵 

• MiCA in Europe: The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework officially went live, standardizing rules for exchanges and token issuers (the TLDR is: it’s tedious but workable for legitimate businesses).

• Global approach: While Asia kept exploring CBDCs and broader blockchain solutions, Latin America saw a huge pump in crypto startups, capitalizing on remittance and financial inclusion. Regulatory talk centered less on bans and more on how to harness crypto’s potential responsibly.

Overall, 2024 was a landmark year 🫡 

Looking ahead, 2025 promises another set of curveballs and catalysts. Will the price stay over $100K? ? Will some new meme steal the spotlight? 🧙 

In crypto, nothing’s guaranteed except for a healthy dose of surprises - so keep those coins off exchanges, and buckle up for whatever’s next.

Double XP in Ambire Legends until January 1st!

It’s been around two weeks since Legends kicked off, and it’s absolutely blazing 🔥 

Plus, Ambire governance doubled XP on most quests until January 1st, 2025!

To remind: Legends is an onchain game designed to showcase the power of Smart Accounts. Try out power user features like abstracted gas (you don’t need ETH for gas) and transaction batching (approve & swap in one go) and start competing for a 195M WALLET reward pool.

Up for the challenge? 😏 

1. Get into Legends arena https://legends.ambire.com/

2. Mint your soulbound NFT without depositing any assets to your wallet - Ambire covers gas fees!

3. Start completing quests, experience Smart Accounts first hand, and enjoy double XP!

Vitalik “adopts” a baby hippo - memes EXPLODE

• Back in September 2024, Moo Deng, a real life baby hippo, was stealing hearts worldwide with her expressive personality and viral social media videos from Thailand’s Khao Kheow Open Zoo 🦛 

• As her fame grew, a group of crypto enthusiasts saw an opportunity to ride the hype wave, launching the Moo Deng (MOODENG) token on Solana.

• The token quickly gained traction, with degens piling in. For a brief moment, it seemed like Moo Deng had inspired not just joy but also financial prosperity.

But the crypto market, as ever, had other plans. The Moo Deng token skyrocketed - and then crashed just as hard 💰️ 

Within a couple of weeks, the hype had fizzled out, leaving many traders with heavy bags. For all intents and purposes, Moo Deng seemed like yet another flash in the pan memecoin destined for the history books.

• Fast forward to October 2024, and the story took an unexpected turn. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, known for his random brushes with memecoins, decided to sell off a massive stash of ETH-based MOODENG tokens that had inexplicably appeared in his wallet 🪙 

• The move netted him over $760,000 worth of ETH, a sizable sum by any measure. But Vitalik, being Vitalik, didn’t keep the funds. Instead, he donated the majority - 260 ETH - to Kanro, a charity focused on combating airborne diseases. It was a move that made headlines, but for Moo Deng memecoins, it became one of the nails in the coffin 💀 

Then came December 2024.

In an act that no one saw coming, Vitalik announced that he had donated 88 ETH (around $292,000) to Thailand’s Khao Kheow Open Zoo.

But this wasn’t just any donation; it was personal. Vitalik officially “adopted” the real-life Moo Deng - that is funded improvements to her enclosure and supporting the zoo’s wildlife conservation efforts.

As the news spread, the internet collectively melted. Vitalik was now the proud “adoptive father” of the world’s most famous baby hippo 🙃 

This heartwarming gesture had a ripple effect far beyond the zoo. Moo Deng tokens suddenly roared back to life.

Traders who had written off their investments watched in disbelief as the token’s value pumped back up more than 70% within 24 hours of the announcement.

Social media lit up with memes, jokes, and speculation.

It seems that in this space, the line between meme and market mover is often razor-thin 🤔 

One day you’re a forgotten token; the next, you’re riding the coattails of a philanthropic billionaire and an adorable baby hippo.

When degens give back: the heartwarming story of MIRA

The holiday season often stirs feelings of generosity, unity, and the magic of giving.

Among tales of rugs and scams in the crypto world, a heartwarming story emerges - a shining reminder that Web3 isn’t all about Lambo dreams and vaporware.

This year, a memecoin called MIRA turned a plea for help into a lifeline, delivering something good for a change 👇️ 

• It all started with Siqi Chen, a tech CEO, who faced every parent's nightmare: his daughter, Mira, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive brain tumor.

• Desperate to fund life-saving research, Chen posted a heartfelt call for support. The post struck a chord, with crypto enthusiasts and strangers alike rallying to raise over $230,000 via GoFundMe.

But the story didn’t stop there.

Inspired by Chen's viral plea, a user on the Pump.Fun memecoin launchpad created MIRA token - a homage to Mira’s name but backed with a serious purpose.

Fueled by a wave of support, MIRA’s market cap skyrocketed to an unbelievable $80 million within days. Crypto traders, altruists, and speculators piled in, with many pledging to hold or donate their earnings to Chen’s cause 💵 

Chen was also sent 50% of the supply, so after the coin pumped he suddenly had a very sizeable sum in his wallet.

In a follow up post, Chen mentioned his plan to liquidate his token holdings and channel all proceeds into funding research.

• Chen kept his word. After liquidating his position in MIRA, he announced the donations would be distributed in tranches to the Hankinson Lab at the University of Colorado - the only lab in North America researching Mira’s rare tumor type.

• In true holiday spirit, his transparency and dedication moved even seasoned crypto skeptics 🎅 

"At the end of the day we set out to raise $200K and we will end up with at least $1M towards rare disease research" he wrote.

A legacy of hope

The MIRA coin story didn’t end with its meteoric rise, a spectacular rug or anything we typically hear about in crypto.

After liquidation, the token’s value has since settled at a more modest $20 million, but the project’s impact remains undeniable.

And while holiday traditions often involve charity and gift giving, this memecoin transcended material generosity, offering hope not just to Mira but to countless families grappling with similar conditions.

Nice work for once, degens!

MEMES

Other worthy reads:

ETH gas is at the lowest point in months at the moment:

Lessons learned from 2024, by ML:

25 predictions for 2025, by Mippo:

That's all for now, frens.

🎄 That’s a wrap for this year, frens! 🎁

As we close out the year, let’s take a moment to celebrate the highs, learn from the lows, and look forward to what’s next.

Thank you for being with us on this journey! Wishing you a joyous holiday season and a prosperous New Year.

See you in 2025! 🥂✨

Yours, The 🔥 Team

Brought to you by Ambire: The Only Web3 Wallet That You’ll Need!