In its now 13-year history, there are some milestones that can be said to correlate with the rise of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin. These include, but are not limited to, the year 2011 when the first challengers to Bitcoin's dominance (altcoins) emerged. Another milestone could be around 2016 when ordinary people began to recognize the power of blockchain technology and the Ethereum coin, ETH, became extremely popular. Following the popularity of ETH, there was a frenzy of initial coin offerings (ICOs), which peaked in early 2018, with 1,253 ICOs.
Another watershed moment occurred in 2017 when Bitcoin reached $10,000 and continued to rise. This expansion was fueled in part by a gradual increase in the number of locations where Bitcoin could be spent and traded.

Not insignificantly, the rise in popularity of cryptocurrency in 2017 coincided with the first commercial and investment banks expressing interest in the digital assets sector.