The Bitcoin (BTC) price again reached an all-time high in 2025, as values exceeded over 95,508.31 USD on November 16, 2025. Price hikes in early 2025 were connected to the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States, while previous hikes in 2021 were due to events involving Tesla and Coinbase, respectively. Tesla's announcement in March 2021 that it had acquired 1.5 billion U.S. dollars' worth of the digital coin, for example, as well as the IPO of the U.S.'s biggest crypto exchange, fueled mass interest. The market was noticeably different by the end of 2022, however, after another crypto exchange, FTX, filed for bankruptcy.Is the world running out of Bitcoin?Unlike fiat currency like the U.S. dollar - as the Federal Reserve can simply decide to print more banknotes - Bitcoin's supply is finite: BTC has a maximum supply embedded in its design, of which roughly 89 percent had been reached in April 2021. It is believed that Bitcoin will run out by 2040, despite more powerful mining equipment. This is because mining becomes exponentially more difficult and power-hungry every four years, a part of Bitcoin's original design. Because of this, a Bitcoin mining transaction could equal the energy consumption of a small country in 2021.Bitcoin's price outlook: a potential bubble?Cryptocurrencies have few metrics available that allow for forecasting, if only because it is rumored that only a few cryptocurrency holders own a large portion of the available supply. These large holders - referred to as 'whales'-are' said to make up two percent of anonymous ownership accounts, while owning roughly 92 percent of BTC. On top of this, most people who use cryptocurrency-related services worldwide are retail clients rather than institutional investors. This means outlooks on whether Bitcoin prices will fall or grow are difficult to measure, as movements from one large whale are already having a significant impact on this market.

In March 2024 Bitcoin BTC reached a new all-time high with prices exceeding 73000 USD marking a milestone for the cryptocurrency market This surge was due to the approval of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds ETFs in the United States allowing investors to access Bitcoin without directly holding it This development increased Bitcoin’s credibility and brought fresh demand from institutional investors echoing previous price surges in 2021 when Tesla announced its 15 billion investment in Bitcoin and Coinbase was listed on the Nasdaq By the end of 2022 Bitcoin prices dropped sharply to 15000 USD following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its bankruptcy which caused a loss of confidence in the market By August 2024 Bitcoin rebounded to approximately 64178 USD but remained volatile due to inflation and interest rate hikes Unlike fiat currency like the US dollar Bitcoin’s supply is finite with 21 million coins as its maximum supply By September 2024 over 92 percent of Bitcoin had been mined Bitcoin’s value is tied to its scarcity and its mining process is regulated through halving events which cut the reward for mining every four years making it harder and more energy-intensive to mine The next halving event in 2024 will reduce the reward to 3125 BTC from its current 625 BTC The final Bitcoin is expected to be mined around 2140 The energy required to mine Bitcoin has led to criticisms about its environmental impact with estimates in 2021 suggesting that one Bitcoin transaction used as much energy as Argentina Bitcoin’s future price is difficult to predict due to the influence of large holders known as whales who own about 92 percent of all Bitcoin These whales can cause dramatic market swings by making large trades and many retail investors still dominate the market While institutional interest has grown it remains a small fraction compared to retail Bitcoin is vulnerable to external factors like regulatory changes and economic crises leading some to believe it is in a speculative bubble However others argue that Bitcoin is still in its early stages of adoption and will grow further as more institutions and governments recognize its potential as a hedge against inflation and a store of value 2024 has also seen the rise of Bitcoin Layer 2 technologies like the Lightning Network which improve scalability by enabling faster and cheaper transactions These innovations are crucial for Bitcoin’s wider adoption especially for day-to-day use and cross-border remittances At the same time central bank digital currencies CBDCs are gaining traction as several governments including China and the European Union have accelerated the development of their own state-controlled digital currencies while Bitcoin remains decentralized offering financial sovereignty for those who prefer independence from government control The rise of CBDCs is expected to increase interest in Bitcoin as a hedge against these centralized currencies Bitcoin’s journey in 2024 highlights its growing institutional acceptance alongside its inherent market volatility While the approval of Bitcoin ETFs has significantly boosted interest the market remains sensitive to events like exchange collapses and regulatory decisions With the limited supply of Bitcoin and improvements in its transaction efficiency it is expected to remain a key player in the financial world for years to come Whether Bitcoin is currently in a speculative bubble or on a sustainable path to greater adoption will ultimately be revealed over time.

By 2025, the Bitcoin market cap had grown to over ******** billion USD as the cryptocurrency kept growing. Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying the total number of Bitcoins in circulation by the Bitcoin price. The Bitcoin market capitalization increased from approximately *** billion U.S. dollars in 2013 to several times this amount since its surge in popularity. Dominance The Bitcoin market cap takes up a significant portion of the overall cryptocurrency market cap. This is referred to as "dominance". Within the crypto world, this so-called "dominance" ratio is one of the oldest and most investigated metrics available. It measures the coin's market cap relative to the overall crypto market — effectively showing how strong Bitcoin compared to all the other cryptocurrencies that are not BTC, called "altcoins". The Bitcoin dominance was above ** percent. Maximum supply and scarcity Bitcoin is unusual from other cryptocurrencies in that its maximum supply is getting closer. By 2025, well over ** million out of all 21 million possible Bitcoin had been created. Bitcoin's supply is expected to reach its maximum around the year 2140, likely making mining more energy-intensive.

In this work, i will be analyzing the Bitcoin growth trends from January 2012 to March 2021 in comparison with year indicators where Bitcoin usages/patronage, volumes and prices were high and low across the world.

Bitcoin dominance steadily declined in April 2024 to below ** percent, amid rumors of central banks halting or potentially lowering interest rates in the future. Within the crypto world, this so-called "dominance" ratio is one of the oldest and most investigated metrics available. It measures the coin's market cap relative to the overall crypto market — effectively showing how strong Bitcoin compared to all the other cryptocurrencies that are not BTC, called "altcoins". Why dominance matters is because market caps of any crypto can change relatively quickly, either due to sudden price changes or a change of recorded trading volume. Essentially, the figure somewhat resembles a trading sentiment, revealing whether Bitcoin investors are responding to certain events or whether Bitcoin is losing out on functions offered by, for example, stablecoins or NFT tokens. "Dominance" criticism: Ethereum and stablecoin The interpretation of the Bitcoin metric is not without its criticism. When first conceived, Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency to be created and had a substantial market share within all cryptocurrencies? The overall share of stablecoins, such as Tether, as well as Ethereum increasingly start to resemble that of Bitcoin, however. Some analysts argue against this comparison. For one, they point towards the large influence of trading activity between Bitcoin and Ethereum in the dominance metric. Second, they argue that stablecoins can be traded in for Bitcoin and Ethereum, essentially showing how much investors are willing to engage with "regular" cryptocurrency. A rally around Bitcoin in late 2023? By December 2023, the Bitcoin price reached roughly 41,000 U.S. dollars — the first time in 20 months such a value was reached. A weaker U.S. dollar, speculation on decreasing interest rates, and a potential Bitcoin ETF approval are believed to be at the heart of this price increase. Whether this will hold in 2024 is unclear: The monthly interest rate from the U.S. Fed is speculated to decrease in 2024, despite a vow of "higher for longer". In December 2023, the thought of decreasing interest rates and the potential of a Bitcoin ETF fuelled market sentiment towards riskier assets.

Tesla made headlines in 2021 when it comes to buying Bitcoin (BTC), but the software company MicroStrategy held ********** their amount of the cryptocurrency. This according to an overview created by accessing what information was available from publicly listed companies, such as from their quarterly reports or filings. The figures provided are on how much Bitcoin the companies have bought and keep in their corporate treasury, essentially making cryptocurrencies part of their assets and that company's investment strategy. Two companies stand out in this list: first, Tesla announced in March 2021 it would accept BTC directly - Bitcoins paid for their cars would be retained as Bitcoin, and not converted from BTC to U.S. dollar. This is unlike other companies that accept Bitcoin as a payment method, like Microsoft, which uses a payment processor called BitPay to convert cryptocurrency to fiat currency. Second, there is Coinbase: One of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges amid a Bitcoin price surge, the U.S. company went public in April 2021 and was considered a potential blockbuster IPO.

View daily updates and historical trends for Bitcoin Market Cap. Source: Blockchain.com. Track economic data with YCharts analytics.

Ethereum's price history suggests that that crypto was worth more in 2025 than during late 2021, although nowhere near the highest price recorded. Much like Bitcoin (BTC), the price of ETH went up in 2021 but for different reasons altogether: Ethereum, for instance, hit the news when a digital art piece was sold as the world's most expensive NFT for over 38,000 ETH - or 69.3 million U.S. dollars. Unlike Bitcoin, of which the price growth was fueled by the IPO of the U.S.'s biggest crypto trader, Coinbase, the rally on Ethereum came from technological developments that caused much excitement among traders. First, the so-called 'Berlin update' rolled out on the Ethereum network in April 2021, an update that would eventually lead to the Ethereum Merge in 2022 and reduced ETH gas prices - or reduced transaction fees. The collapse of FTX in late 2022, however, changed much for the cryptocurrency. As of November 13, 2025, Ethereum was worth 3,409.61 U.S. dollars - significantly less than the 4,400 U.S. dollars by the end of 2021.Ethereum's future and the DeFi industryPrice developments on Ethereum are difficult to predict but cannot be seen without the world of DeFi, or decentralized finance. This industry used technology to remove intermediaries between parties in a financial transaction. One example includes crypto wallets such as Coinbase Wallet that grew in popularity recently, with other examples including smart contractor Uniswap, Maker (responsible for stablecoin DAI), moneylender Dharma and market protocol Compound. Ethereum's future developments are tied with this industry: Unlike Bitcoin and Ripple, Ethereum is technically not a currency but an open-source software platform for blockchain applications, with Ether being the cryptocurrency that is used inside the Ethereum network. Essentially, Ethereum facilitates DeFi, meaning that if DeFi does well, so does Ethereum.NFTs: the most well-known application of EthereumNFTs or non-fungible tokens, grew nearly tenfold between 2018 and 2020, as can be seen in the market cap of NFTs worldwide. These digital blockchain assets can essentially function as a unique code connected to a digital file, allowing to distinguish the original file from any potential copies. This application is especially prominent in crypto art, although there are other applications: gaming, sports, and collectibles are other segments where NFT sales occur.

Bitcoin's circulating supply has grown steadily since its inception in 2009, reaching over ***** million coins by early October 2025. This gradual increase reflects the cryptocurrency's design, which put a limit of ** million on the total number of bitcoins that can ever exist. This impacts the Bitcoin price somewhat, as its scarcity can lead to volatility on the market. Maximum supply and scarcity Bitcoin is unusual from other cryptocurrencies in that its maximum supply is getting closer. By October 2025, more than ** percent of all possible Bitcoin had been created. That said, Bitcoin's circulating supply is expected to reach its maximum around the year 2140. Meanwhile, mining becomes exponentially more difficult and energy-intensive. Institutional investors In 2025, countries like the United States openly started discussing the possibility of buying bitcoins to hold in reserve. By the time of writing, it was unclear whether this would happen. Nevertheless, institutional investors displayed more interest in the cryptocurrency than before. Certain companies owned several thousands of Bitcoin tokens in 2025, for example. This and the limited number of Bitcoin may further fuel price volatility.

Ethereum price dataset

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Ethereum (ETH) is a smart contract platform that enables developers to build decentralized applications (DAPs) conceptualized in Vitalik Buterin 2013. ETH is the local currency of the Ethereum platform and also serves as a transaction fee for miners in the Ethereum network.

Ethereum is the pioneer of blockchain-based smart contracts. Smart contract becomes a self-operating computer program when running on the blockchain, which automatically executes when certain conditions are met. On the blockchain, smart contracts allow the code to be programmed without the possibility of useless time, censorship, fraud or third party interference. It facilitates the conversion of money, content, property, shares or anything valuable. Ethereum Network went live on July 30, 2015 with 72 million Ethereum Premium.

Column descriptors

1. Date - As on Date of the price information
2. Price - Shows the current price in INR as on date.
3. Open - Opening price of the day's trading session.
4. High - Highest price of the day's trading session.
5. Low -Lowest price of the day's trading session.
6. Close - Closing price of the day's trading session.
7. Volume - Volume of the crypto token as on date.
8. % change - change in the price percentage during the day.

Data insights

This is the price trend extracted from the internet through web scraping for the period of 10 March 2016 to 12 May 2021.

Inspiration

Predicting the price and the trend in short, medium and long term has been very tricky lately due to lack of historical data and analysis, and the failure of traditional fundamental and technical analysis techniques on cryptocurrencies.

Challenge

I challenge the data scientists and machine learning experts to take up this challenge using this dataset. I would be shortly adding data for other booming cryptocurrencies shortly.

Ripple, or XRP, prices surged in 2021 but went down significantly as 2022 progressed. As of November 16, 2025, one XRP token was worth 2.24 U.S. dollars. Ethereum's price, for example, kept on reaching new all-time highs, a feat not performed by XRP. Indeed, XRP's price spikes followed relatively late - only occurring in early 2021, against late 2020 for most other cryptos - after the US SEC filed a legal complaint against Ripple in November 2020. This legal action caused the XRP price to plummet from around 0.70 U.S. dollars to 0.20 U.S. dollars.Ripple versus XRP: two become oneTechnically speaking, Ripple is not a cryptocurrency. Renamed from a protocol called OpenCoin in 2013, Ripple facilitates open-source payments. XRP, on the other hand, is the cryptocurrency that runs on this network. In that sense, Ripple and XRP have a similar symbiosis to each other, like the Ethereum network and its cryptocurrency, Ether. Unlike Ethereum - whose price changes are connected to the world of Decentralized Finance or DeFI - Ripple/XRP mostly looks at developments in cross-border payments for companies. In 2020, companies worldwide began to favor fintech solutions for future B2B solutions and, in a way, Ripple is an extension of that.What affects the price of Ripple?Ripple is mostly active in Southeast Asia - a region with a splintered payment landscape and that heavily investigates its own types of state-issued cryptocurrency to make cross-border payments a lot easier. Price spikes tend to follow news on this topic in this specific region. In 2019, for example, the XRP price grew after Japan and South Korea began testing to reduce time and costs for transferring international funds between the two countries. In March 2021, Ripple announced that it had agreed to acquire 40 percent of Malaysian cross-border payments firm Tranglo to meet growing demand in Southeast Asia.

https://www.bernardmarr.com/img/What%20Is%20The%20Difference%20Between%20Bitcoin%20and%20Ethereum.png">

Context

Ethereum a decentralized, open-source blockchain featuring smart contract functionality was proposed in 2013 by programmer Vitalik Buterin. Development was crowdfunded in 2014, and the network went live on 30 July 2015, with 72 million coins premined.

Some interesting facts about Ethereum(ETH): - Ether (ETH) is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. It is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, after Bitcoin. Ethereum is the most actively used blockchain. - Some of the world’s leading corporations joined the EEA(Ethereum Alliance, is a collaboration of many block start-ups) and supported “further development.” Some of the most famous companies are Samsung SDS, Toyota Research Institute, Banco Santander, Microsoft, J.P.Morgan, Merck GaA, Intel, Deloitte, DTCC, ING, Accenture, Consensys, Bank of Canada, and BNY Mellon.

Content

The dataset consists of ETH prices from March-2016 to the current date(1830days) and the dataset will be updated on a weekly basis.

Information regarding the data

The data totally consists of 1813 records(1813 days) with 7 columns. The description of the features is given below

| No |Columns | Descriptions | | -- | -- | -- | | 1 | Date | Date of the ETH prices | | 2 | Price | Prices of ETH(dollars) | | 3 | Open | Opening price of ETH on the respective date(Dollars) | | 4 | High | Highest price of ETH on the respective date(Dollars) | | 5 | Low | Lowest price of ETH on the respective date(Dollars) | | 6 | Vol. | Volume of ETH on the respective date(Dollars). | | 7 | Change % | Percentage of Change in ETH prices on the respective date | |

Acknowledgements

The dataset was extracted from investing.com

Inspiration

Experts say that ethereum has a huge potential in the future. Do you believe it? Well, let's find it by building our own creative models to predict if the statement is true.

Nord Finance reached its all-time high price on March 2, 2021.

The price of the cryptocurrency based on the famous internet meme broke its price decline in early November 2022, as people started buying the coin after FTX's collapse. This rally only lasted for a few days, however, as a Dogecoin was worth roughly 0.16 U.S. dollars on November 16, 2025. This is a different development than in 2021, when the crypto became very popular in a short amount of time. Between January 28 and January 29, 2021, Dogecoin's value grew by around 216 percent to 0.023535 U.S. dollars after comments from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The digital coin quickly grew to become the most talked-about cryptocurrency available, not necessarily for its price - the prices of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and several other virtual currencies were much higher than those of DOGE - but for its growth.

Dataset used in the article "Is there an impact of Ethereum Merge on the relationship between this cryptocurrency and energy portfolios?". The file consists of the prices of Ether, three dirty-energy assets (Brent and WTI futures together with the MSCI-Energy index (https://www.msci.com/documents/10199/de6dfd90-3fcd-42f0-aaf9-4b3565462b5a) and three clean-energy ETFs: CNRG (SPDR S&P Kensho Clean Power ETF - designed to capture companies whose products and services are driving innovation behind clean power), QCLN (First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund, designed to track the Nasdaq Clean Edge Green Energy index which captures companies worldwide which operate in the clean energy sector) and ICLN (iShares Global Clean Energy ETF which track the S&P Global Clean Energy index comprising of the largest and most liquid stocks worldwide which are involved in clean energy business) from 15.03.2021 to 15.03.2024. Two last columns are the prices of the portfolios of cryptoassets: equally-weighted (Port_eq) and capitalisation-weighted (Port_cap). Among the crypto-assets included in the portfolio, we use Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), Monero (XMR), Stellar (XLM), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Neo (NEO), EOS (EOS), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Tron (TRX), Cardano(ADA), Binance (BNB), DOGE (DOGE) and Solana (SOL). These cryptocurrencies are of different proofing mechanisms and various capitalisations. They accounted for 80\% of the total cryptocurrency market capitalisation as of 15th of March, 2024 (https://coinmarketcap.com/historical/20240315/).

Following NFT hype and growing demand in the DeFi community, the price of cryptocurrency Solana, or SOL, more than tripled during the summer of 2021. This had all but evaporated by the end of 2022, as a price of 139.59 U.S. dollars for SOL on November 16, 2025, was similar to the price of Solana in early 2021. The collapse of crypto trader FTX in 2022 especially impacted the cryptocurrency, as FTX and its sister firm Alameda Research sold a large amount of the coin to avoid bankruptcy. The Solana protocol is similar to Ethereum in that it can allow for non-fungible tokens to be created ('minted') or traded. Solana, however, uses a technology called 'PoH' or Proof of History, which allows it to reach high transaction speeds. The Solana Foundation, the creators of the protocol, based in Switzerland, claims they could reach up to 65,000 transactions per second compared to 16 for Ethereum. Additionally, Solano had no transaction fees or 'gas', unlike Ethereum, which had growing transaction costs. These two reasons combined - Solana being deemed cheaper and faster than Ethereum - turned this relatively young protocol into a breeding ground for NFT projects in August 2021.

Convenience oriented businesses were seemingly more likely to offer cryptocurrency solutions than others in early 2021. This observation is based on open-source information, tracking (mostly small) companies that either had a physical in-store ATM for cryptocurrency withdrawal, or accepted cryptocurrencies for payment when a customer visits their shop in 2021. Figures on Bitcoin ATMs are available from several outlets - with this ranking attempting to list where these crypto ATMs or in-store payments can be found. Nearly ***** of the companies mentioned here are found in the United States, with only ***** other countries having over 1,000 entries in this list.

Going big: cryptocurrency acceptance among large businesses

Many of the companies listed here are small businesses, although some entries are part of a retail or gas chain. This leads to the question of whether big companies are opening up to the use of virtual coins. In *************, Tesla announced it was considering accepting Bitcoin (BTC) as a direct payment method for their Model * car. This was a big change, as some large firms used intermediary services up until that point. These services offer solutions that convert crypto payments into U.S. dollar, which are then send to the receiving company. One example includes is Microsoft - Bitcoin payments are allowed on the Microsoft Store, which are then handled by a service called BitPay. BitPay was especially popular with prepaid or gift cards in 2020. Tesla was the first big company to openly state it might accept BTC without an intermediary, as part of its plans to own more cryptocurrency. The car manufacturer's move sparked a Bitcoin price surge in the following weeks.

Digital purchases with Ethereum: the rise of NFT

A few weeks after Tesla's announcement, the crypto world hit the news yet again: A digital artpiece called Everyday: The First 5000 Days had been sold by auction house Christie's for around ** million U.S. dollars - the highest-valued NFT project in the world as of **********, and the third-highest ever sold artpiece from a living artist. Essentially, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) function as a blockchain-powered letter of authenticity which can be bought or sold using Ethereum. Several famous examples of where NFT was used include the aforementioned *** USD auction sale, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey selling his very first tweet through NFT marketplace Valuables, and sports platform Top Shot - where basketball fans can buy and collect packs of NBA highlights. Essentially, the token serves as a unique code connected to a digital file, allowing to distinguish the original file from copies floating around on the Internet. This market is relatively young but saw its market cap grow significantly in only three years time.

The market cap of NFT, or non-fungible tokens, shows a fast moving development, growing more than 3,000 percent between 2020 and 2021. The source of these figures states that coming up with a market capitalization for a market this young is "a tricky exercise" and even mentions this particular estimate is "conservative". The volatile nature of developments in this new market can also be seen in the transaction volume of NFT for various segments as well as the market size of NFT within the same segments: Transactions declined for gaming, whilst value grew for arts. This latter aspect was demonstrated in early 2021, when an NFT digital artwork was sold in an auction for roughly 69 million U.S. dollars - making it the third-most expensive art piece ever sold from a living artist. Blockchain approved: the application of NFT Non-fungible tokens refer to unique, non-transferable digital assets stored in blockchain. This one-of-a-kind asset is something that cannot be tinkered with, but can still be traded as an asset or bought with a cryptocurrency such as Ethereum. Essentially, this makes an NFT a digital certificate of authenticity: The token serves as a unique code connected to a file, allowing to distinguish the original file from copies floating around on the Internet. This relatively new technology allows for various applications. Several famous examples of where NFT was used include the aforementioned 69m USD auction sale, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey selling his very first tweet through NFT marketplace Valuables or sports platform Top Shot - where basketball fans can buy and collect packs of NBA highlights. NFT is also used for investments, with an investor specializing in this technology ranking among Europe's biggest Fintech investors in the seed stage. 2021: the cryptocurrency Renaissance The NFT art auction occurred in a year where the price of several cryptocurrencies grew significantly, and general interest in crypto or blockchain reached new heights. The price for a single Bitcoin, for instance, hit an all-time high of 60,000 U.S. dollars in March 2021, slightly over a month after Tesla announced it had bought 1.5 billion U.S. dollars worth of the world's most well-known cryptocurrency and it planned to accept Bitcoin as a payment method for its Model 3 car.

Memecoin Shiba Inu saw its price grow by more than 300 percent within one and the same month, marking a trading fury reminiscent of Dogecoin in early 2021. Indeed, the SHIB coin ranked as one of the biggest crypto in the world based on 24h trading volume in October 2021 - with trading activity being almost as high as that of Ethereum. Originally starting out as a fun token based on the famous Japanese dog breed, the digital currency grabbed mainstream attention in 2021 probably due to its low barrier of entry: Even after its price spikes, Shiba Inu was one of the cheapest coins available, especially when compared to the price of 99 other cryptocurrencies. Combine this with survey information that most consumers in the U.S. and the UK invest in crypto either for growth or fun, and Shiba Inu is probably seen by many as a relatively simple, "quick win" investment. As of May 19, 2025, the price of one million Shiba Inu is 14.08.

The price of the native coin from BNB Chain (formerly BSC) grew by 50 percent in late 2021 but was much lower in 2022. On November 16, 2025, for example, a single BNB coin was worth more than 931.97 U.S. dollars - a value that is very different from the all-time high of 931.97 U.S. dollars in November 2021. Regardless, Binance Coin ranked in the top 10 most expensive cryptocurrencies in 2022. Noticeable is that the price increase of BNB in November 2021 coincides with a similar price change for Ethereum (ETH), a cryptocurrency where BNB initially originated in 2017 before coming to its own years later.BNB's history: From a reward token in 2017 to an ecosystem after 2019As the name suggests, Binance Coin, or BNB, originally started as an extension of the Binance.com trading platform, the most used cryptocurrency exchange in the world. It initially functioned on the Ethereum blockchain network as an ERC-20 token, offering incentives to owners like reduced trading fees, affiliate rewards, or a lottery ticket system ('Launchpad') that let users invest in new, Binance-selected crypto projects. In 2019, however, BNB moved away from the Ethereum network and migrated to Binance's self-developed blockchain: Binance Smart Chain, or BSC (called BNB Chain since February 2022). Here, BNB started to support a chain that initially did not focus on hosting decentralized apps but focused on high transaction speed and being able to handle large amounts of traffic.DeFi and GameFi: the main segments for BNBBSC, however, made significant strides in 2021, partly due to traffic overload and high gas prices on Ethereum, as well as the growing interest in both Decentralized Finance (DeFI) and NFTs. Much like Cardano, Solana, and Terra, Binance Smart Chain consequently became a valid alternative to Ethereum. The total value locked (TVL) of BNBs blockchain within DeFi, for example, ranked only behind that of Terra and Ethereum in early 2022. Another area where Binance's blockchain and token play a significant role is that of GameFi, or 'play-to-earn' blockchain games that are powered by cryptocurrencies. Some of the more well-known and most popular NFT games, like Alien Worlds and Axie Infinity, run on the blockchain behind BNB.