We’ve covered the year’s most notable crypto events and biggest failures, even a few daring criminal cases.
But there’s an entirely different category that’s worth a post in its own right: The funny, wild and almost absurd headlines we encountered in 2024.
Let’s take a look at stories you might not even think of, such as sore thumbs and government departments being named after furry mascots.
- 6.2 Million Dollar Banana
For starters, could there be a more interesting example than Justin Sun? Justin decided to spend his fortune in the most interesting way: By eating a banana presented as a work of art.
Taped to the wall at an art exhibition in Miami a few years ago, this ordinary-looking fruit was offered for sale at an auction in New York.
Sotheby’s had predicted it would sell for $1.5 million, but Sun upset that estimate. The TRON founder and mega billionaire bought the banana for $6.2 million and ate it at a luxury hotel in Hong Kong.
So how does this banana, which costs more than a penthouse in London, taste? According to the Sun, ‘It’s really quite good.’ Unbelievable, isn’t it?
It’s a funny story, yes… but also sad.
Click – Win Madness
Aside from Bitcoin topping $100,000 for the first time, another memorable moment in 2024 is how the crypto world went into a frenzy because of Hamster Kombat.
If you’ve been living in isolation somewhere for the last 12 months, you might not know what Hamster Kombat is. It’s a game played over Telegram where players can win prizes by tapping hard on the screen every day for weeks on end. It doesn’t really offer an exciting experience.
However, the promise of a future airdrop has seen Hamster Kombat’s user base grow to an incredible 300 million. In Russia, sales of massage guns increased by 179 per cent as players tried to manipulate the system. An Iranian military official described the mini-app as ‘one of the enemy’s soft war tactics’.
When the airdrop took place, 2.3 million cheating users were disqualified – but even those who managed to get tokens were outraged. One Reddit user wrote: ‘After endless effort, I only got €13.80. I shouldn’t have put any time into this.’
Predictably, Hamster Kombat’s popularity was shorter than the lifespan of a typical hamster. By November, the game’s user base had dropped by more than 80% to just 41 million, with hunters constantly chasing new things.
DOGE is Growing
I am among those who remember the days when DOGE started as a meme coin, a joke cryptocurrency inspired by a furry Shiba Inu – one of the originals.
Elon Musk played a major role in DOGE’s incredible rise from $0.005 to $0.74 in 2020 and 2021.
And as Donald Trump stepped into the White House on 20 January, DOGE now officially heads the Department of Government Efficiency.
Together with fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk announced goals such as cutting spending and reducing waste in the federal government.
It will certainly be fascinating to see how it all plays out in 2025 and will probably cause some tears.
Satoshi Documentary
Back in October, an HBO documentary boldly announced that the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious inventor of Bitcoin, would be revealed.
‘Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery’ attracted attention with the claim that it would solve the biggest secret of this cryptocurrency. The 100-minute programme claimed that Peter Todd was responsible.
Unfortunately, and somewhat comically, very few Bitcoin users were convinced of this conclusion.
Peter Todd flatly denied these allegations and described the evidence against him as ‘weak’.
Microsoft Rejected Bitcoin
In past bull periods, cryptocurrency enthusiasts were keenly interested in whether major retailers would accept Bitcoin as a payment method. Rumours were widespread that giants such as Amazon, Apple or Walmart would take this step.
While Amazon has been subject to calls that it should invest some of its large cash reserves in the digital asset, critics argue that the e-commerce giant is not fulfilling its obligations by allowing dollars in the bank to lose value due to inflation.
Microsoft, on the other hand, went a step further and allowed its shareholders to vote on this issue. The board of directors advised against investing in Bitcoin, stating that they were already thinking about this asset class.
Surprisingly, 99.45% of the votes, or 5.148 billion votes, were against investing in Bitcoin; only 0.55%, or 28.2 million votes, supported the idea.
This was a major defeat and shows that Bitcoin supporters have a long way to go to convince large institutions.