Crypto Trading Stays Steady in First Days of 2023

Crypto trading has leveled off in the first days of the new year.

Both bitcoin and ether have remained within a narrow band in recent weeks, according to a Wednesday (Jan. 4) Wall Street Journal report. From late Tuesday (Jan. 3) to Wednesday, bitcoin inched up 1% and ether 3%.

At the same time, investors expect a bumpy ride ahead for cryptocurrencies.

In recent days, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty as he prepares for a trial to begin in October, two other FTX executives pleaded guilty, and the heads of crypto exchange Gemini and crypto lender Genesis have been publicly sparring, the report said.

As PYMNTS reported Dec. 27, the outlook for cryptocurrency in 2023 is much shakier than it was in 2022.

The past 12 months have seen the FTX crypto crash, macroeconomic headwinds that are buffeting consumers, over-leveraged implosions throughout the sector and widespread mockery of the underlying premise of crypto’s usability.

On the Nov. 8 one-year anniversary of bitcoin’s all-time high — which was $68,789 — PYMNTS noted that it had been a rocky 12 months for bitcoin as it had lost 70% of its value at that point.

At its high point, analysts attributed the rally in financial assets in part to investors who were attempting to hedge against inflation, with the rest coming as a result of rampant speculation, often by investors with little or no prior experience.

Less than three months later, gravity started to rule the day.

As bitcoin turned 14 years old Tuesday (Jan. 3), bitcoin and its applications have so far come up very short of the primary monetary goal set out in its original white paper.

If bitcoin was supposed to be a reinvention of money, the cryptocurrency industry by-products it spawned have been embraced most by speculative investors.

As PYMNTS reported Tuesday, depending on who you ask, bitcoin is either headed to $1,000,000 or set to suffer a further 70% reduction in value — a sentiment that seems to sum up bitcoin’s prospect as a payment method. Few want the value of their currency to be based purely on what another person thinks it’s worth.

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