An Overview of the Crypto World in 2023
An Overview of the Crypto World in 2023. With the year coming to a close, the cryptocurrency market may look back and exclaim, “What a wonderful year!” There have been several market swings, legal disputes, shutdowns, and even collapses involving digital money in the past year. 2023, we will examine these and other noteworthy occurrences in the bitcoin industry. You’ll find the news informative if you’re a part of this worldwide space with a market cap of more than $1.70 trillion. After reading them, you should better understand what to expect in 2024.
Crypto Chronicles 2023
In 2023, the crypto industry saw a great deal of activity. Throughout this wild year, we have highlighted a few key events that impacted the cryptocurrency market. If you miss any of the top news, they are all below.
Bitcoin Hit an Annual Low of $16,680
Bitcoin, the dominant cryptocurrency, saw its lowest value at the beginning of the year. The coin lost $16,680 in value on January 2nd. Specialists widely anticipated it, given that Bitcoin has maintained lower rates until 2023. In particular, Bitcoin’s price dropped from over $20,000 in October 2022 to approximately $16,400 in November and $16,600 in December of the same year.
After Bitcoin’s price hit $16,680, several investors were worried that 2023 would be a positive year for cryptocurrencies. Things did, however, quickly begin to improve. The leading digital currency had a better January overall, with an average price of almost $22,840. The price has, interestingly enough, only gone up every month after that. With an average price of about $23,500 in February, Bitcoin’s value soared to almost $28,000 by March. While August and September saw a slowdown, the price of Bitcoin spiked again in October and has continued its upward trend as 2023 draws to a close.
SEC Shut Down Kraken’s Staking Program
In February 2023, crypto investors surely worried about the future of their assets. At the height of the SEC’s lawsuit against Kraken that month, the commission came out on top. Staking was no longer an option for the popular exchange; therefore, it shut down. In addition, settlements totalling $30 million are due from Kraken. What caused the closure? The SEC claims that Kraken misled its customers by not telling them how it protects their staked assets. According to SEC chair Gary Gensler, stamp providers are encouraged to register their services with the commission. As he put it:
“Whether they refer to their service as ‘lending’, ‘earn,” rewards,’ ‘APY,’ or staking,’ the federal securities laws should guard your relationship with that company or platform when they offer you returns like these.” After the settlement, most people in the cryptocurrency community agreed that it was just the beginning. A greater number of exchanges may face SEC scrutiny. For Kraken, that was just the beginning of their legal struggle with the SEC. Based on continuing to conduct unregistered operations, the Federal Commission filed a lawsuit against the cryptocurrency exchange in November 2023.
Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank’s demise was one of the year’s most intriguing crypto news stories. After being around since 1983, the bank collapsed on March 10, 2023, due to a bank run. With $209 billion in assets, it ranked as the third-biggest failure of a US bank. New York’s Signature Bank went under two days after that.
Signature Bank and Silicon Valley both served a large number of cryptocurrency firms. Consequently, the cryptocurrency market was rocked by its collapse. Circle, a cryptocurrency company, said it lost $3.3 billion of its USDC reserve at the bank. Most impacted by this announcement was USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization.
For example, USDT’s value is pegged to the US dollar, which is typical for stablecoins. As a result, they protect crypto investors from the unstable market. However, USDC could not preserve its status as a parity with the USD with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Once upon a time, one dollar was traded for 0.89 USDC of the coin.
Arbitrum Launched Its ARB Token
March 2023 was challenging for USDC, but ETH saw major progress. This occurred after Arbitrum’s governance token, ARB, was launched. An important point to remember is that Arbitrum is among the most prominent Ethereum network layer-2 scaling solutions. On March 23, the scaling solution airdropped 12.75 per cent of the governance token’s supply at its launch. Developers received 1.13%, and early adopters of the platform received 11.62%. Uniswap set the first token price at $3.99 and distributed the airdrop to more than 625,000 wallets after the debut.
Various other markets displayed varying pricing. Bybit listed the token for as much as $14. Because the costs varied, customers might earn an average of 625 ARB, worth anywhere from $625 to $1,250. A Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) transition occurred between the launch and Airbitrum. As a result, ARB holders could voice their opinions on the Airbitrum project’s development and propose improvements.
SEC Filed Lawsuits Against Both Binance/CZ and Coinbase
Cryptocurrency investors were greeted with some of the most disturbing news of the year on June 5, 2023. According to SEC documents, the commission has lodged thirteen allegations against Binance, a major participant in the cryptocurrency industry. The founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), was likewise embroiled in the litigation. On June 6th, the SEO publicly announced its lawsuits against Coinbase the next day. Therefore, in June 2023, the SEC hit the two most valuable cryptocurrency exchanges globally with accusations.
The case between Binance and the SEC was simple. Users in the US are sent to Binance.us rather than the international site Binance.com because Binance is legally obligated to do so. The SEC, however, asserted that neither Binance nor CZ had fulfilled their obligations under the deal. According to the commission, Binance.com was accessible to users in the United States. Another problem was that CZ’s European company received user cash from Binance, totalling billions of USD.
However, the unauthorized purchase and sale of crypto asset securities was the root cause of the litigation against Coinbase. The Coinbase staking program was brought to the attention of the SEC because the exchange did not register it. This problem caused Kraken to terminate its staking program in February.
BlackRock Filed for a Spot in Bitcoin ETF
The biggest asset manager in the world, BlackRock, showed significant interest in the cryptocurrency market in 2023. In June 2023, the business applied to become an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for Bitcoin. For market pricing and custody, BlackRock applied via Coinbase. For the cryptocurrency sector, the announcement that BlackRock has filed for a spot in Bitcoin ETF was monumental, given the lack of regulation in the US. Consequently, it would set a new standard. But we still haven’t heard back from the SEC on the idea.
The asset management company revised their proposal in December 2023 to include cash redemptions to get SEC approval. Basket redemptions in Bitcoin or “in-kind” were the only ones covered by the earlier proposal. Many are wondering if the SEC will approve the spot BTC ETF. The commission has indeed green-lit a few Bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds. On the other hand, it has a history of rejecting several bids, with fraud being cited as the most common justification. BlackRock is likewise looking into other options; in November, the firm filed for spot ETH.
PayPal Launch the PYUSD Stablecoin
In August 2023, PYUSD was added to the crypto market’s list of stablecoins. The latest offering from the colossal e-commerce firm, PYUSD (PayPal USD), continues in the same vein as USDT and USDC. This is the first event by a prominent US financial institution; the stablecoin’s price is tied to the US dollar.
At inception, PYUSD was, unsurprisingly, only accessible to PayPal customers in the US. There are qualifying requirements that PayPal users must complete before accessing the stablecoin. Eligible customers can use PYUSD to send and receive money online. The stablecoin also allows users to instantly convert other cryptocurrencies that PayPal supports to it and vice versa.
PYUSD is an important token because it is an ERC-20 token. That is to say, the Ethereum blockchain was used for its launch. According to PayPal, the stablecoin would supposedly help web3 apps, third-party developers, and wallets with cryptocurrency transactions. You can find PYUSD on the marketplaces of numerous exchanges already.
Bitcoin Retakes $44,000
An enormous price drop befell the market leader as the crypto year ended. In January, the price of Bitcoin hit a yearly low of $16,680. On December 6th, it peaked at more than $44,000. Before that day, on December 5th, Bitcoin had risen from about $37,700 at the beginning of the last month of the year to almost $42,000.
For the two days that followed, the Bitcoin price fell; on December 7, it fell below $43,800, and on December 8, it fell even lower, to $43,270. On December 9th, 2023, Bitcoin holders got good news again: the price of the coin soared to $44,200. By the end of 2023, the price of Bitcoin is expected to be about $43,000.
What’s to expect in 2024?
If the crypto review 2023 news is to be believed, the industry is having a banner year coming to a close. According to market experts, 2024 is the year of a bull run, and some go so far as to say that the run has started. There are a lot of forecasts, but one common expectation is that the bitcoin price will hit $100,000. If the past is any indication, numerous altcoins ride shotgun when Bitcoin’s price surges.
What Is the Highest-Rising Crypto in 2023?
The Lido DAO (LDO) cryptocurrency has the greatest growth rate in 2023. During the first half of 2023, the token’s price increased by almost 100%. The price increased by over 225% in the first quarter. By the end of 2023, the token will have a market cap of more than $2.2 billion.
Which Crypto Will Boom in 2024?
Experts predict that Bitcoin’s leading cryptocurrency will have a meteoric rise in 2024. The current price of one bitcoin is $69,044.77, but analysts anticipate that by 2024, the coin’s value might exceed $100,000.
Will Crypto Recover in 2025?
Experts anticipate that 2025 will be a banner year for the cryptocurrency business. Expectedly high prices are set for major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, and LTC.
