It has been a successful first half of 2023 for bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market. At the start of the year, bitcoin had fallen below $16,000 per coin, far lower than its record of $69,000 in 2021. However, after six months, bitcoin is now valued at around $31,000, representing a growth of 87%. Ethereum, the second-largest coin by market cap, is up more than 60%, ripple is up about 40%, and cardano has expanded by 16%.
The macroeconomic environment has been less volatile than last year, and investors have started to regain confidence in crypto investments. This has been bolstered by the stock market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq composite all performing well.
In addition, Wall Street-driven developments are fueling the bullish crypto market. BlackRock recently filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an exchange-traded bitcoin fund, and EDX Markets, a new cryptocurrency exchange is being financially backed by major institutional firms such as Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity, and Sequoia Capital.
Crypto expert Brandon Zemp believes that bitcoin will continue to rise, potentially reaching its previous all-time high. Konstantin Shulga, CEO and co-founder of Finery Markets, added that the world of cryptocurrency is slowly but surely seeing adoption, although the biggest question is whether the BlackRock filing will be approved by the SEC.
