As we and other media have commented several times, 2024 was a turning point for the legitimacy of Bitcoin in regulated finance, and therefore for its social acceptance in general. Let's remember that until 2023, the financial landscape was very hostile to Bitcoin in the U.S., with a government that almost openly hindered the interaction between cryptoeconomics and traditional finance in what was known as operation choke point 2.0.

2024 gave us what seemed like a 180° turn in these policies: first with the approval of Bitcoin investment funds; later with a presidential candidate who put the first cryptocurrency at the center of his campaign. In addition to that, 2024 was a year of halving, which historically has inaugurated a bullish cycle starting 6 months after said event; something that also happened this year, giving Bitcoin new all-time highs above one hundred thousand dollars.
All of this generated a climate of widespread optimism among Bitcoiners, in which it seemed that the establishment was already on our side.

In the last month of 2024, a series of news in the institutional sphere partially undermined that optimistic sentiment. The first was that the director of the Federal Reserve said in an interview that the organization is not authorized to buy bitcoins, nor is it interested in changing that at the moment. While this is not serious, nor is it unexpected, it was a cold shower for those who thought Trump's plan was just around the corner.
One possibly more relevant news was Microsoft's refusal to start a bitcoin acquisition strategy. This showed us that despite investment funds and the success of some bitcoin reserve strategies like MicroStrategy's, large technology corporations still remain skeptical about BTC.
But the most relevant of all were the concessions of El Salvador to the International Monetary Fund. The IMF is known, particularly by the most progressive sectors, as the face of neoliberal order or American colonialism. This notion is shared by radical bitcoiners committed to human rights, such as Alex Gladstein in this note. The feeling is mutual, as the organization has attacked Bitcoin practically forever.