2022 has been a year to forget for cryptocurrency investors. The price of Bitcoin has fallen from $60,000 12 months ago to $17,000 today, losing more than 70 percent of its value. Then there was the FTX debacle. The crypto exchange that was once worth $32 billion collapsed in a matter of days, and commentators like crypto-sceptic Molly White warned that the entire cryptocurrency house of cards would come tumbling down in aftershocks “like a tsunami after an earthquake.”
If crypto in general and Bitcoin in particular has proved anything over the past decade, it is that it is resilient. But just which way will things go in the months ahead? Here, we look at some of the crypto predictions for 2023.
Increased regulation
The collapse of FTX caused significant unrest in the market and has given impetus to arguments in favor of tighter crypto regulation. Jean-Paul Servais, president of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) suggests that this does not have to be started from scratch, and could be built around existing rules used to govern credit rating agencies. He told Reuters that by applying IOSCO principles to digital money trading, the market could enjoy greater transparency and clarity.
The rise of crypto poker
iGaming has always had close connections with the crypto market. The first Bitcoin casino opened in 2014, and eight years later, crypto has transformed from a specialist niche to a mainstream force in the online casino market. This is particularly the case in the US, where bank transfers to and from offshore casinos can be problematic. Bitcoin poker sites have been slower to emerge, but a growing number of online poker sites in the US have started to embrace Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Poker players find crypto appealing for a number of reasons. They provide anonymity, security and speedy transactions.
Meme coins will be in
Dogecoin was released with tongue firmly in cheek back in 2013. But after emerging as Elon Musk’s cryptocurrency of choice in 2022, people have started to view meme coins from a new perspective. Dogecoin’s market cap is currently hovering around the $13 billion mark and there are now more than 200 meme coins in circulation. That could be a foreshadowing of things to come, and meme coins are likely to be one of the key trends in 2022.
But NFTs will be out
In fact, meme coins could be to 2023 what NFTs were to 2021, although Elon Musk and others will hope they will be more sustainable. One of the big questions at the beginning of 2022 was whether NFTs were here to stay or would be a short-term craze. It’s looking increasingly certain that we have our answer. Opensea, the NFT marketplace, has registered a steady decline in trading over the course of 2022 from $4.9 billion in January to $0.3 billion in October. The NFT market will continue, but don’t expect it to return to the levels of 2021 any time soon.