It should be noted that 2022 was definitely a challenging year for the cryptocurrency industry. Most cryptocurrencies lost most of their prices, resulting in serious losses for investors. However, the niche has not been without records either.

For example, the equivalent of $8.2 trillion was transferred through the Bitcoin network in 2022. As CoinMetrics analysts note, that is the equivalent of $260,000 per second.

The volume of value transfer on the Bitcoin network

The stabelcoin industry, i.e. cryptocurrencies with a link to the value of the dollar, also issued a record. The volume of settlements with steibles exceeded the $7 trillion level in 2022.

Stablecoin settlement volume

At the same time, trading volumes with NFTs from January to November 2022 declined by almost 95 percent.

Trading volume with NFT tokens in 2022

When will cryptocurrencies grow?

The crypto industry simply won’t be able to withstand too much of a decline, Eric notes. According to him, if the current trend does indeed continue for a decade, Bitcoin can be considered a “failed project”. However, Voorhees is betting on the aforementioned timeframe, which means a new bullrun could start in at least six months.

It should be noted that some experts do not agree with this, citing the situation in the global economy as an argument. As it became clear the day before, Fed officials will raise the key rate in 2023 as well - though not as actively. This means that credit from central banks will continue to rise in price, which in theory will affect the development of the economy and the appetite of investors at the same time. According to fans of this theory, we should expect a reversal in the market of cryptocurrencies and other assets as decisions made by bankers soften noticeably.

ShapeShift CEO Eric Voorhees

If the market doesn’t suffer from more negative news in the near future, Bitcoin could well rise as high as $40,000, the expert noted.

By tradition, we remind you that price forecasts are not bound to come true. Accordingly, even though Eric Voorhees has a reputation as a balanced investor who is very clear on the benefits of cryptocurrencies, he still doesn't see the future and could be wrong.

Here’s Voorhees’ comment on the matter, published by news outlet CryptoPotato

The bullrun’s outlook has a lot to do with the macro environment. As long as US Federal Reserve interest rates remain high and monetary conditions tighten, the situation is not getting any better. It will start to change in early to mid 2023. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Bitcoin is worth around $40,000 by the summer. And that’s about 2.5 times what it is now.

The $40,000 line on the 1-day Bitcoin chart

In his interview, Voorhees also touched on the topic of the bankruptcy of numerous cryptocurrency companies in the past year. With this in mind, he advised investors to primarily rely on themselves to protect their own capital, which means trusting centralised platforms less.

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Despite the fact that the previous year was a tough one for the entire industry, it was also a good year in many ways for major cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Experts at analytics platform Arcane Research even called the exchange a “real winner” for 2022.

According to the analysts, the trading platform captured 92 percent of Bitcoin spot trading volume and 61 percent of BTC derivatives trading volume. In other words, Binance now accounts for a serious share of the digital asset market. Here’s a commentary from a recent Arcane report on this.

There are no other clear “winners” for 2022 other than Binance when it comes to crypto market structure and dominance. However you look at it in terms of trading activity, Binance itself has become the epitome of the industry.

Bitcoin spot trading volumes with (blue) and without (black) Binance

For comparison, at the beginning of 2022, Binance's share of Bitcoin spot trading volume was 45 percent. In other words, that figure has more than doubled for the exchange in a full year. But its share of derivatives trading volume on BTC increased by about a third over the same period of time.

This high performance for Binance was made possible by the collapse of its major competitor, the FTX trading platform. It officially became bankrupt in early November 2022. FTX is currently facing bankruptcy proceedings, which have already revealed that the platform’s collapse was preceded by unlawful practices of its management, using customer funds and other fraudulent activities.

However, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried had not pleaded guilty to all charges the previous day. With this in mind, the trial has been scheduled for 2 October 2023.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried before the court hearing

Another reason for Binance’s success is the introduction of zero transaction fees on some popular cryptocurrency pairs. Experts speculate that Binance will reintroduce more commissions in 2023, leading to a decline in its market dominance. In addition, in 2022, Binance was one of the few cryptocurrency companies whose staff only increased rather than decreased, as was the case with Kraken or Coinbase.

The latter’s staff decreased by 30 per cent and 18 per cent respectively. Here’s a ranking of the staff reductions at the various companies.

Volume of staff reductions at cryptocurrency companies in 2022


We don't think it's worth counting on any specific numbers in relation to the price of Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrencies by a certain date. Still, anything can happen in the digital asset industry - as we have seen time and again. However, it is also important to keep in mind that 2022 was the worst for the stock and bond market since 1871. In such an environment it is logical to expect the financial markets to continue to recover and not vice versa.

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