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After a challenging 2022, Bitcoin has made a remarkable comeback in 2023, with a significant recovery from falling cryptocurrency prices, low trading volumes and difficult economic conditions. Bitcoin’s resilience has been highlighted by a 164% increase in its value since January 1, surpassing the $40,000 mark and outperforming traditional assets such as gold, which has increased by 10%. and a 20% gain in the S&P 500.
Kevin Koh, co-founder and managing partner at Spartan Group, noted the cryptocurrency’s recovery, saying, “We’ve had a nice recovery, but we’re just at the peak of the cycle.” new.” This sentiment reflects broader market optimism as Bitcoin also expanded its dominance in the total cryptocurrency market, increasing from 38% to more than 50%, based on data from CoinGecko. The overall market capitalization of cryptocurrencies increased to $1.7 trillion from $871 billion at the end of 2022, with the price of Ether, another leading cryptocurrency, increasing 95%.
A significant portion of Bitcoin’s gains have been realized of late, fueled by anticipation of a potential U.S. Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) and the prospect of accommodative monetary policy further stimulates investor interest. Trading volumes have also rebounded, with combined spot and derivatives trading volumes on centralized exchanges reaching $3.61 trillion in November, marking an increase from around 2.9 trillion. trillion dollars in January, CCData reports.
In the stablecoin space, Tether, the largest such digital coin, has seen its market capitalization reach a record high of over $90 billion.
However, this year has not been without its challenges for the industry. Following the collapse of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried in 2022, many crypto giants face legal and regulatory hurdles. Binance’s Changpeng Zhao has settled with regulators after pleading guilty to violating US anti-money laundering laws. Similarly, Voyager Digital co-founder faces legal action in the US and Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky was arrested in July, pleading not guilty to charges including securities fraud. Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud in November following a high-profile trial.
On a positive note, Ripple’s XRP token is up 82% in the year after a US judge ruled that the sale of Ripple Labs’ tokens on public exchanges did not constitute a violation of the law securities, marking a major regulatory victory for the industry.
Looking ahead, Bitcoin’s fourth-quarter performance, which accounted for 55% of the year’s gain, was largely driven by expectations that a spot Bitcoin ETF would be approved in the US, attracting both retail and institutional investors. position. Asset managers such as BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) and Fidelity are among 13 entities that have filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for this multibillion-dollar product, which has the potential to attracted $3 billion from investors in the early days of trading.
However, opinions on the potential success of such a fund vary. JP Morgan predicts the crypto market recovery will last through expected ETF approvals in early 2024, but they are cautious about the level of adoption, predicting asset flows in the percentage range from low to mid-single digits of the $1.7 trillion cryptocurrency market, as opposed to a more optimistic forecast of 10%.
The current state of Bitcoin’s recovery shows it is still in its early stages, according to analytics firm Glassnode. Net dollar realized profits per day for Bitcoin investors stand at $324 million, significantly lower than the peak of more than $3 billion per day experienced during the latter part of the year’s bull market 2021, shows that the current bull market cycle may still have room to grow.
Reuters contributed to this article.
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