TGIF 2 Minutes – Crypto Quarterly for 1st Quarter 2023 will take a bit longer than previous editions. For perspective, consider several details from the December 2022 edition which concluded that cryptocurrency is not dead but on serious life support:
- Bitcoin, on fire in 2021, saw its price drop over 75% in 2022 from its record high. Since May 2022, Bitcoin’s value is down by half.
- Coinbase, the first publicly listed and largest US cryptocurrency exchange, has seen its stock drop 80% from the time of its listing.
- Quarterly retail trading volume on Coinbase fell 74% by mid-year, from 2021 highs.
- Coinbase has also come under increasing regulatory scrutiny, adding to its woes.
- According to research firm, CryptoCompare, asset managers saw investors withdraw nearly $20 billion from crypto in November alone, bringing certain asset levels to lows not seen since 2020.*
- Speculative activity in cryptocurrencies has plummeted. Speculation involves those who borrow cryptocurrencies in order to buy even more crypto, paying dear sums of interest to borrow. Demand to borrow Bitcoin for speculation is currently near zero.
- High profile crypto exchange, FTX, filed for large-scale bankruptcy, triggered by crashing crypto prices and cratering trading volumes, amidst questionable activities by the company and its founder.
- NFT (Non-Fungible Token) sales came to a near-standstill in 2022. NFTs are “units of data stored on digital ledgers, or blockchains“.**
More to come in TGIF 2 Minutes – Crypto Quarterly 1Q 2023.
*WSJ.com. Paul Vigna, James Mackintosh.
**Wikipedia.com