It’s the question that keeps people up at 3:00 AM while staring at a flickering Candlestick chart: who won the bull run? If you’re looking for a single name or one specific coin that took the crown, you're gonna be disappointed because "winning" in crypto usually depends on when you actually hit the sell button. Honestly, the 2024 cycle was a weird one. It didn't look like 2017, and it certainly didn't feel like the stimulus-fueled mania of 2021.
We saw Bitcoin hit new all-time highs before the halving for the first time ever. That changed the math for everyone. Usually, the "winners" are the retail traders catching a 100x on a meme coin, but this time around, the landscape shifted toward the suits. BlackRock and Fidelity entered the room, and suddenly, the game wasn't just about decentralization anymore; it was about institutional liquidity and ETF inflows.
The Big Institutions Basically Took Over
For a long time, crypto was this wild west where early adopters and "degens" made the rules. That era is mostly over. When we look at who won the bull run from a pure capital accumulation standpoint, the spot Bitcoin ETFs are the clear victors. BlackRock’s IBIT alone became the fastest-growing ETF in history.
Think about that for a second.
Wall Street didn't just participate; they dominated. According to data from Farside Investors, billions of dollars flowed into these instruments within months. While the average person was trying to figure out which Solana meme coin was going to moon, Larry Fink’s team was gobbling up the underlying asset. They won by bringing stability—or at least a floor—to a market that used to drop 80% without blinking.
But it’s not just about the money. It’s about the narrative. The institutional "win" means Bitcoin is now a legitimate macro asset. It’s sitting on balance sheets. It’s in 401(k) plans. If you measure winning by "mainstream adoption," the 2024 cycle was the definitive victory for Bitcoin’s status as digital gold.
✨ Don't miss: Cuanto son 100 dolares en quetzales: Why the Bank Rate Isn't What You Actually Get
The Solana Rebirth and the Meme Coin Casino
If Bitcoin was the institutional winner, Solana was the cultural one. Remember when FTX collapsed and everyone thought Solana was dead? Anatoly Yakovenko’s "Only Possible on Solana" mantra actually panned out. The network became the de facto home for retail activity because Ethereum's gas fees were still, frankly, annoying for the average user.
Pump.fun changed the game. It allowed anyone with a couple of bucks and a dream to launch a token. Most of them went to zero. Actually, almost all of them did. But the people who provided the infrastructure—the validators and the DEXs like Raydium—they're the ones who won the bull run in the Solana ecosystem. They collected fees while everyone else gambled on tokens named after misspelled politicians or internet cats.
Did Retail Actually Win This Time?
It's complicated. In 2021, everyone was a genius. In 2024, the "win" was much more fragmented. We saw the rise of "Point Programs" and "Airdrop Farming," which kept people busy for a year only for many to end up with tokens that dropped 90% upon listing. Projects like Starknet or LayerZero had massive hype, but the actual price action left a lot of community members feeling burned.
The real retail winners weren't the ones chasing every new shiny object. They were the ones who stayed in "boring" assets.
If you bought Bitcoin at $16,000 during the depths of the 2022 FTX crash and just sat there, you won. If you bought MicroStrategy stock (MSTR) instead of actual Bitcoin, you probably won even bigger due to the leverage. Michael Saylor is a polarizing figure, but his "stacking sats" strategy made his company one of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 era. He basically leveraged corporate debt to buy a fixed-supply asset. It’s a move that will be studied in business schools for decades, regardless of how you feel about his Twitter presence.
🔗 Read more: Dealing With the IRS San Diego CA Office Without Losing Your Mind
The Quiet Victory of Stablecoins
We talk a lot about price action, but Tether (USDT) is arguably the biggest winner of every cycle. Their quarterly profit reports are staggering—sometimes outperforming traditional banking giants like Goldman Sachs. By holding U.S. Treasuries and issuing a digital dollar, they've become the plumbing of the entire crypto economy. They won by being the thing everyone needs when the market gets too volatile.
Memes vs. Utility: The Ongoing Identity Crisis
There's this massive divide right now. On one side, you have the "utility" folks talking about DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks) and RWA (Real World Assets). On the other, you have the meme coin traders who think utility is a cope.
The data suggests that, at least in the short term, memes won the attention economy. Tokens like WIF, PEPE, and BONK reached billion-dollar valuations with zero "utility" other than being funny or having a strong community. It’s a weird reflection of our current culture—value is wherever people decide to look. However, the downside is that this "win" is incredibly fragile. When the attention moves, the liquidity vanishes.
What We Get Wrong About Timing
People always ask "who won" as if the race is over. Crypto cycles are getting longer and more jagged. The 2024 peak didn't feel like a blow-off top. It felt like a slow grind. Those who tried to time the exact top often missed out because they were waiting for a 2017-style "altseason" that never fully arrived in the way they expected.
The losers? People who used too much leverage.
The winners? People who took profits into stables and didn't get married to their bags.
💡 You might also like: Sands Casino Long Island: What Actually Happens Next at the Old Coliseum Site
It sounds simple, but it’s the hardest thing to do when your screen is flashing green. Most people who "won" on paper ended up giving it all back because they thought the "supercycle" was finally here. The supercycle might be real, but the path there is paved with 30% drawdowns that wipe out the over-leveraged.
Looking at the Regulatory Winners
You can't talk about who won the bull run without mentioning the legal side. For a long time, the SEC seemed to have the upper hand. Then came the Grayscale victory. Then the Ripple ruling. Then the ETF approvals. The biggest winner here was the concept of "Regulatory Clarity." Even if it’s not perfect, the rules of the road are much clearer now than they were three years ago. This is why the big money felt safe coming in.
Actionable Steps for the Current Market
The "bull run" isn't a single event; it's a series of rotations. If you feel like you missed the boat, you're looking at the wrong map. Here is how to actually position yourself for what's left of this cycle and the next one:
- Audit Your Winners: If you have a bag that is up 5x or 10x, take the initial investment out. Transition it into a "cold" asset like BTC or cold hard cash. The biggest mistake is letting a winning trade turn into a "long-term investment" just because you’re afraid of the tax bill.
- Watch the ETF Flows: This is the new heartbeat of the market. If BlackRock is buying, the floor is usually solid. If we see weeks of consecutive outflows, it’s time to be cautious.
- Focus on "Attention" over "Tech": In a perfect world, the best tech wins. In crypto, the best community wins. Look for projects where people are actually building and talking, not just bots spamming "to the moon" in Telegram chats.
- Simplify Everything: The people who made the most money this cycle usually held three or four things. They didn't have a portfolio of 50 different "gems." They picked their horses and stayed on them.
- Stop Following "Influencers": Most of them are being paid to dump on you. Look at on-chain data. Look at what the whales are doing. Use tools like Dune Analytics or Glassnode to see the truth behind the hype.
The 2024 bull run proved that crypto isn't going away, but it’s also not the "get rich quick" scheme it used to be for the average person. It’s becoming a professionalized market. To win, you have to start thinking like the institutions that just entered the space: stay patient, manage risk, and don't get distracted by the noise.