Title: The Top 10 Crypto Moments That Made 2023
Author: BitMEX
Translator: Sharon, BlockBeats
Introduction: BitMEX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges, recently released “The Top 10 Crypto Moments of 2023.” They believe that 2023 was a year for building and preparing for a bull market, and they reviewed significant events of the year, including how the traditional banking crisis brought a glimmer of hope to the crypto industry, the applications for Bitcoin ETFs by numerous traditional financial giants, the continued popularity of Bitcoin Ordinals, the back-and-forth between the SEC and multiple exchanges, the ultimate judgment of SBF, CZ’s resignation, and the rise of meme coins on Solana.
Additionally, BitMEX provided an outlook on the cryptocurrency industry for 2024, emphasizing the accelerated convergence of traditional finance and emerging finance and the potential for 2024 to be a key year for industry evolution. The following is the translation by BlockBeats:
This year, the cryptocurrency industry has experienced a unique year. As 2023 comes to a close, we look back at the top ten events that shaped our industry in 2023.
TL;DR:
The market entered a bear market at the beginning of 2023 while dealing with the aftermath of FTX and a challenging macroeconomic background.
The banking crisis in March, the collapse of banks such as Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate, and Credit Suisse, brought a glimmer of hope to the crypto industry in the midst of winter.
Bitcoin’s price accelerated its recovery with the applications for Bitcoin ETFs by Blackrock, Fidelity, and other traditional financial giants.
The market returned to Bitcoin, with Ordinals reaching a historic high, driving on-chain transactions of Bitcoin to new heights.
The US SEC faced increased pressure to clarify cryptocurrency regulation after disputes with Kraken, Coinbase, and Ripple, followed by over 40 countries announcing their regulatory frameworks.
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was convicted of seven charges, potentially facing up to 115 years in prison.
Binance pleaded guilty and paid a $4.3 billion fine to the US Department of Justice, and Zhao Changpeng resigned as CEO.
Solana’s ecosystem surpassed Ethereum through the launch of new projects and improvements, leading to a 500% growth in the value of SOL.
Meme coins like PEPE, SHIB, DOGE, and BONK made a comeback.
Pre-IEO futures gained popularity, and BitMEX was at the forefront.
Table of Contents:
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The Tragedy of Traditional Finance
The Aftermath of 2022
The Banking Crisis
Building Bitcoin
The Emergence of Bitcoin ETFs
The Rise of Bitcoin Ordinals
Cryptocurrency Enters the Courtroom
The Battle of Kraken, Coinbase, and Ripple
SBF’s Trial – Live on X
The “Big Dog” Binance
The Revival of Meme Coins
The Rise of Solana
The Craze for Meme Coins Returns
The Popularity of Pre-IEO Futures
Outlook for 2024
This year, macroeconomics and inflation undoubtedly dominated all conversations – the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to the highest levels in decades, central banks are implementing further monetary tightening, and the economy is grappling with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Against this backdrop, the Federal Reserve implemented the fastest rate hikes in history – conducting seven rate hikes in 2022 and four in 2023.
The challenging macroeconomic environment meant that customers had a lower risk appetite, and government bonds became the preferred investment category. Banks faced pressure to repay long-term debt interest at much higher capital costs due to inflation – and it didn’t take long for the first high-risk bank to collapse.
Customers started to panic and withdraw, leading to a run on various banks. Several banking institutions, including Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Credit Suisse, collapsed.
As a result, the government planned to print money through a bank deposit rescue plan. The total money supply continued to grow, and the demand for non-inflationary assets like gold and Bitcoin became evident. The failures of long-established centralized entities meant an increased confidence in decentralized currency systems – people began to see cryptocurrencies as an alternative.
Interest rate hikes continued until June, with J.Powell playing the role of a masked strongman. It wasn’t until August that inflation began to stabilize, and the latest December Federal Reserve meeting reaffirmed that rates would remain stable or decrease next year – which should be positive for the cryptocurrency market in 2024.
At the beginning of 2023, the price of Bitcoin hovered around $16,000, likely still affected by some negative impact from FTX. However, this narrative quickly changed over time. The main reason was the banking crisis – followed by news of Bitcoin ETFs and the construction of use cases on the network.
In the second half of this year, traditional financial giants like Blackrock began to show confidence in digital assets, and this became increasingly evident. It was evident in June when Blackrock applied for a Bitcoin ETF, followed by companies like Fidelity and Grayscale.
All of this proved that institutional adoption was making a comeback, naturally boosting the confidence of retail investors.
Another push for the Bitcoin ecosystem came from the rise of Ordinals, which provided users with a way to create digital assets like NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain. Within a year, the total number of Ordinals surged to 48 million, driving daily transactions of Bitcoin to new heights. This also meant that everyone recognized Bitcoin’s ability to grow far beyond its long-term static state.
Today, Bitcoin has reached its highest point in 12 months, growing an astonishing 180% since the beginning of the year.
Throughout the turbulent journey of Bitcoin, BitMEX has remained committed to its core business – providing trading opportunities for professional traders to fully utilize the market. One example is BitMEX being the second-largest and most liquid platform for trading Bitcoin-denominated derivative contracts, with over 100 contracts available for trading.
A year can bring about significant changes – especially in terms of cryptocurrency regulation. Just this time last year, headlines were filled with news about attacks on FTX, the SEC, and companies in the crypto industry – a stark contrast to today’s situation.
Following the collapse of FTX, many were asking, “What’s next?” or more accurately, “Who’s next?” The first to emerge was Kraken, which paid a $30 million fine for offering staking services in unregistered securities form. The scrutiny of “unregistered securities” is ongoing, with Coinbase being the next target.
Coinbase became the first crypto exchange to sue the SEC – attempting to encourage regulation and accurately interpret how TradFi securities laws apply to cryptocurrencies. The SEC retaliated, claiming that Coinbase is an unregistered securities exchange. The company’s battle with the SEC is ongoing, and many say it will continue for a while.
However, not all news was bad news.
In a significant regulatory development, the SEC announced the dropping of charges against Ripple. The case was established when the SEC claimed that Ripple’s native token XRP was a security, but this claim was dismissed in July, and the case was thrown out.
What is the outcome? These cases prompted the SEC to provide more clarity on its stance towards cryptocurrencies. In addition to the United States, over 40 countries around the world announced official regulatory frameworks for digital assets in 2023.
SBF, a college graduate who once dominated the crypto exchange FTX, became a convicted felon within a year, being found guilty of seven charges, including money laundering and securities fraud, potentially facing up to 115 years in prison.
Is there a silver lining to this news? SBF’s trial was a moment of deep understanding for the crypto industry. This move restored confidence in the consequences of misconduct, and most importantly, it emphasized the industry’s urgent need for transparency and accountability.
Like everyone else, BitMEX closely followed the entire trial process. In addition, our team found an opportunity for our users – driving us to launch prediction markets, a unique crypto derivative that allows our traders to take positions on “interesting” event outcomes related to current affairs.
As the final blow to the crypto industry this year (unsurprisingly), Binance and its former CEO, Zhao Changpeng (CZ), became the next targets in court. On November 21st, the US Department of Justice announced a settlement regarding alleged money laundering and unauthorized fund transfers by Binance US and CZ.
Binance was fined $4.3 billion, and CZ was forced to resign as CEO, with his fate still uncertain. Compared to the FTX saga, this was not a devastating blow to cryptocurrency prices but generally seen as a positive sign of continued adoption and the final check before ETF approval.
Alongside Bitcoin’s recovery in the past quarter, the altcoin market also rose, with tokens like Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Ripple (XRP), and Cosmos (ATOM) having their shining moments this year.
The meme coin that gained significant attention this year was Solana’s meme coin. Solana had previously suffered from the FTX saga but started to experience a significant recovery in Q3.
SOL, Solana’s native token, hit its bottom in Q1, but like many other tokens, this didn’t stop them from building. Their efforts eventually paid off, and despite unfavorable factors, SOL reached a peak of $94 in December, growing over 500% since the beginning of the year.
This was mainly attributed to improvements and project launches within Solana’s ecosystem, such as Jito Network, which sparked a DeFi summer frenzy through reintroducing airdrops, mining, NFT minting, and more.
This year was marked by the frenzy of meme tokens, proving that the hype around DOGE in 2021 may not have been an anomaly. In the second half of this year, meme coins caused a sensation once again, closely tied to the recovery of Bitcoin prices.
Some notable meme coins include PEPE, SHIB, and BONE, with BONK, Solana’s first dog coin, being the most noteworthy, reaching a market capitalization of $2 billion in just six weeks through airdrops within the Solana ecosystem.
The cryptocurrency industry’s innovation is unparalleled, as is the launch of its products. One concept that emerged this year among major exchanges was the concept of Pre-IEO futures listing. Pre-IEO is more advanced than IEO, allowing traders to participate in price discovery of tokens and profit from it. These products gained popularity as they allowed traders to gain exposure to tokens before they were listed without participating in airdrops or being early investors in projects.
The groundbreaking nature of Pre-IEO futures listing
At BitMEX, we launched Pre-IEO futures contracts at the beginning of the year, benefiting from our product team’s ongoing efforts to devise ways for traders to fully utilize the market. Just this year, we listed over seven Pre-IEO futures contracts:
SEIUSDTQ23 – Sei Network
CYBERUSDTQ23 – Cyber Network
TIAUSDTZ23 – Celestia
MEMEUSDTX23 – Memecoin
PYTHUSDTZ23 – Pyth Network
BLASTUSDTZ24 – Blast Network
ACEUSDTZ23 – Fusionist
The upward trend of the cryptocurrency market has only just begun. Looking back at the earlier market cycles of 2015 and 2019, it seems that 2024 could bring about an upward wave (see below).
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What’s more important is the interest of traditional financial giants in Bitcoin ETFs, real-world assets (RWA), and blockchain technology, indicating the convergence of traditional finance and emerging finance. The recent price surge of Bitcoin paints an upward trajectory for cryptocurrencies, and 2024 has the potential to be a key year for industry evolution.
At BitMEX, we see 2023 as a time for building and preparing for the next bull market. This means launching more contracts, platform features, and upgrades to provide the best trading experience for our users.
Let’s review some of our statistics for 2023:
– Welcomed thousands of new traders and increased platform liquidity in preparation for the bull market in 2024.
– Launched over 70 derivative contracts, including Prediction Markets and pre-IEO futures.
– Introduced five or more professional trading platform features, including chart trading, sub-accounts, multiple charts, dynamic messaging, and realized P&L.
– Achieved a 95% reduction in order book latency through trading engine updates.
– Introduced the Guild system – our take on competitive trading – and distributed over $100,000 in rewards to date.
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This article is authorized to be reproduced from BitMEX by BlockBeats.
