DeutschBitcoin and Co. made a brilliant comeback in the crypto year 2023 after the setbacks of the previous year. Some unexpected events emerged. The struggle for supremacy between the crypto industry and regulatory authorities continues to gain momentum. These were the most important news and changes of the year.
That Was the Crypto Year 2023: the most Important News
What innovations were there in the crypto year 2023? The market and the scene experienced many changes, disputes and several crucial court rulings. New trends are emerging, old trends are returning.
CoinPro summarizes the most important news of the year and provides an outlook on the future that Bitcoin and the crypto market will face in 2024.
Ordinals Cause Conflict and Euphoria
In January, former Bitcoin Core developer Casey Rodarmor introduced a new protocol called Ordinals . The project quickly gained popularity, but was sharply criticized by other Bitcoiners.
Towards the end of the year, the debate about Ordinals flared up again. The protocol allows so-called inscriptions, which enable a rudimentary type of NFTs that are stored natively on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr called for an adjustment to the blockchain in early December that would lead to the destruction of Ordinals. The planned release date for the new software version is in 2024.
Dashjr’s demands were preceded by auctions by the well-known auction house Sotheby’s. Three Bitcoin NFTs were sold for over half a million US dollars and triggered a new gold rush on the crypto market.
The current trend towards inscriptions is so great that Bitcoin was able to replace the eternal frontrunner Ethereum as the most important platform for NFTs. Bitcoin overtook ETH for the first time in November and has been leading the list ever since. So Bitcoin is the most popular NFT platform.
Since November, the fees of the Bitcoin network have been skyrocketing. Ordinals play a central role in the price increase – just like BRC–20 tokens, which are based on the protocol and enable the creation of user-generated fungible tokens on Bitcoin.
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The trading volume of classic NFTs and inscriptions by blockchains with the largest trading volume.
Bitcoin Gains Market Dominance
Over the past few months, Bitcoin has regained market dominance. On the first of January 2023, the market share of the largest cryptocurrency was still at a comparatively low 40 percent. In the meantime, this value has risen to 50 percent.
Of course, the Bitcoin price and the entire crypto market also rose sharply during this time. BTC started the year with a value of 16,500 US dollars and is at around 43,000 US dollars on December 27.
Many investors are therefore back in the green. According to Glassnode, more than 80 percent of all Bitcoin investors were in the black by the end of October. This also includes some of the best-known promoters of the cryptocurrency.
MicroStrategy, the company of the popular Bitcoin maximalist Michael Saylor, has been significantly in the black again for the first time since summer 2022 (+38 percent). El Salvador’s investments are also showing first, slight profits after around two years with a price gain.
Martkführer Tether (USDT) is also becoming increasingly dominant in the stablecoin sector. The largest stablecoin currently has a market share of 72 percent, while it was still 50 percent at the beginning of the year, as data from Glassnode shows. BUSD disappears completely after a ban in the USA. Tether’s toughest competitor USDC lost 40 percent of its market share. DAI, the largest decentralized stablecoin, was able to maintain its market share of around four percent.
Mt.Gox Begins Repayments
Almost ten years after the insolvency of what was then the largest crypto exchange, the Japanese company Mt.Gox recently began making repayments to injured users. Mt.Gox had unleashed an incredible scandal in 2014 after large parts of the Bitcoin deposits had disappeared.
There are currently 850,000 remaining BTC in the custody of Japanese authorities, the market value of which is almost 37 billion US dollars. According to several users of the subreddit Mtgoxinsolvency, repayments began on Boxing Day. The rightful owners of the Bitcoin are expected to have their full assets paid out by October 2024.
Among course analysts, there are opinions that expect noticeable slumps in the Bitcoin course as a result of strong sales by former Mt.Gox customers. When users last had access to their Bitcoin, the market value of the cryptocurrency was approximately $830. Bitcoin is expected to close 2023 at around $43,000.
SEC Sues Market Leaders Binance and Coinbase
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intensified its fight against crypto in 2023. The SEC filed lawsuits against several leading companies in the industry – including Binance, Coinbase and Kraken. An agreement was only reached with Kraken.
The Swiss company Sigma Chain is also affected in the Binance case. It is a subsidiary of Binance that, according to the SEC’s findings, acts as a market maker on Binance. The SEC suspects market manipulation and breach of trust.
Through the lawsuits, the SEC primarily wants to enforce its position that most cryptocurrencies are illegal securities. Leading figures in the crypto industry feel wrongly attacked. They accuse the SEC of politically motivated measures that exceed the authority’s actual powers.
The US Department of Justice reached an agreement with Binance in November. The previous CEO Changpeng Zhao resigned from his position and the crypto exchange committed to a penalty payment of 4.3 billion US dollars. CEO CZ pleaded guilty to sanctions violations and money laundering. The legal dispute with the SEC remains unresolved.
Ripple and Grayscale Win Lawsuits against SEC
In addition, 2023 was marked by two landmark court rulings in the USA. The US Securities and Exchange Commission failed above all against asset manager Grayscale. According to the court, the requested conversion of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into an ETF was wrongly rejected in 2022.
In the case of SEC vs Ripple, the authority at least achieved a partial success. According to the court, Ripple’s cryptocurrency XRP is not legally a security, provided that the investment is not sold directly by Ripple to institutions.
The SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple in December 2020 and wanted to set a precedent. This project was unsuccessful, which gave hope on the crypto market for a beneficial future.
Bitcoin ETFs Massively on the Rise
Since June, the crypto market has been dominated by news about Bitcoin spot ETFs in the USA. So far, the exchange-traded funds that offer Bitcoin at the spot price have been inadmissible there.
After BlackRock submitted an application for the iShares Bitcoin Trust in June, a large commitment to the funds developed. Many other asset managers followed. There are currently 13 applications for Bitcoin spot ETFs, one of which comes from the Swiss company Pando Asset.
An approval of the ETFs is expected from January 8th to 10th. In addition to the Bitcoin halving in April, the event is considered the most bullish event of the year.
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Top Crypto Trends 2023
The top crypto trends in 2023 were once again dominated by memecoins. Most recently, the Solana token BONK made headlines. The fun currencies Pepe and Snek exploded in the summer.
Decentralized Trading Protocols Very Popular
In the long term, decentralized trading protocols should be much more interesting. The increasing conflicts with authorities and restrictive regulations for trading platforms are causing some users to switch to alternatives.
Above all, THORChain (RUNE) benefited from this development. As a result, RUNE rose by 311 percent in 2023. The network enables the exchange of different cryptocurrencies with each other. The developers describe their project as Cross-Chain-DEX.
Projects with similar goals such as Loopring (+75 percent) and Raydium (+850 percent) also benefit from the trend.
Solana Wins Massively
Ethereum alternatives are also very popular towards the end of the year. Cardano, Avalanche and Polkadot recorded noticeable gains. However, the frontrunner in the category was Solana. SOL rose by 1,000 percent in the annual trend.
Solana is, after Bitcoin and Ethereum, above all the most popular cryptocurrency among institutions. Institutional funds also flowed into the project over 2023, even when BTC and ETH were in the red.
Solana is very popular due to its mass suitability. It is also considered less resistant to government regulations than Ethereum.
Advanced Functions Fuel Bitcoin
Advanced functions of the otherwise minimalist Bitcoin blockchain are ensuring the increasing popularity of the largest cryptocurrency. After the Ordinals conquered the NFT market, Stacks (STX) rose by around 580 percent.
Stacks is a layer 2 solution for Bitcoin. The aim is to establish the largest cryptocurrency in the DeFi sector through its own smart contracts.
