2021 - The Stacks Bitcoin layer launches to enable smart contracts, DeFi, NFTs, and other additional use cases for Bitcoin.
2023 - The ordinals protocol, and inscriptions are launched, which brought in a new wave of interest and innovation in Bitcoin. BRC-20 tokens launched to explore the fungibility of tokens directly on the Bitcoin blockchain, leveraging Ordinals theory. Stamps are also launched in 2023, allowing storage directly on Bitcoin’s UTXOs, which differs from Ordinals.
2024 - January brings the first US Spot Bitcoin ETF approval, with a total of 35 new ETFs introduced in the first two weeks. There was a total of $1.9 billion in asset inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs within their initial three days of trading. April was the fourth halving, and the Runes protocol was launched, which allows for fungible tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. In December, Bitcoin reaches all-time high of $100,000.
2025 - After over 100 enforcement actions by the US SEC, and unclear regulatory guidelines under Gary Gensler’s leadership, a new presidency changes the regulatory landscape for digital assets in the US. Donal Trump takes office as the US President, and issues an executive order: “Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology”, appoints David Sacks as the Crypto and AI czar, and issues no action letters to many of the previous enforcement actions by the previous administration, and begins to shape stablecoin legistlation.
From December 2024 to February 2025, there was a surge of new, short-lived memecoin schemes, where many investors lost money, thus we are seeing the crypto defi market look for more stable yield opportunities. They are turning to Bitcoin DeFi. In February, Stacks saw 3,028 new Bitcoin pegged in within 24 hours of the second sBTC cap raise. Users received sBTC and began programming it into DeFi applications, like Bitflow, Zest and Granite.

This memecoin craze is the backdrop to ETHDenver in February 2025.