Like it or not, Bitcoin didn’t have the best 2022. The token began the year on a slide from $48,000 in November 2021 and mostly kept up that slump for the entire 12 months, ending on $14,000, less than half the value it began the year with. However, since about June of last year, Bitcoin seems to have grown increasingly comfortable with the $15-18,000 range, despite the ever-present promises of a moon-bound rally.
Analysts are bullish on Bitcoin’s potential for 2023 though, with estimates ranging from a conservative $45,000 (with a possible drop to $13,000 first) to an unhelpfully confident $250,000, something we’ve been promised for years now. The feeling that Bitcoin’s rebound is inevitable persists across the Twittersphere, especially now that it is clear that the collapse of FTX isn’t going to end the world (just look at Solana’s rebound since November).
Digital Dollar
Given the possibility of unexpected events like the previous one, the crypto space is entering a period of uncertainty and possible restructuring. News website CNBC suggests that FTX’s ignominious end has set crypto back “years”, with increased regulation and lower public uptake almost a certainty in 2023 and beyond. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the same source expects greater innovation as a response.
On that note, the technology company moon-rocket.io wants to capitalize on crypto’s popularity to provide new approaches to operational efficiency. Outside of highly specific use cases like Ethereum, the presence of crypto in the public industry isn’t yet cemented. However, MoonRocket stresses that crypto technology epitomizes a “progressive and forward-thinking” direction for future e-commerce in particular.
Similarly, some more traditional enterprises are warming to the crypto cause, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which has paired with MIT to create a “digital dollar”. According to pymnts.com, the project surpassed a feasibility study at the end of last year, potentially making 2023 pivotal in the development of a bank-backed cryptocurrency, whether you love or loathe the idea.
The end of the crypto winter
While the value of the crypto market has rallied back above $1 trillion for the first time since FTX became bankrupt, the worry is the coming year could be haunted by the same ghost as previous ones, that of mainstream uptake. Ledger CEO Ian Rogers recently stressed that digital assets of all kinds will become bigger parts of our lives but added that “creating wallets and storing keys and going through different platforms” is still difficult.
Some respondents to a visual.ly study seemed to concur, with 30% of those surveyed describing Bitcoin as “confusing”. As there are around 4,065 different tokens listed on uk.advfn.com, access to digital assets both as currencies and as something to create seems to be increasing. Of course, there’s always the risk that too many currencies without appropriate use cases could hinder the technology’s future growth.
2023 could prove to be an important year in the history of cryptocurrency, as the “crypto winter” comes to an end and the spring of a post-FTX world starts to take shape.