One of them was the recovery of the bitcoin exchange rate at the beginning of 2023, however, the forecasts of analysts, experts and exchange owners still remain contradictory and, if optimistic, then very moderately and with a bunch of reservations. Their main message is that nothing lasts forever, including the crisis, but no one can say with certainty how and when it will end.
For example, the owner of the largest crypto exchange Binance Changpeng Zhao in December 2022 said that the coming months will be very difficult. And although the entire crypto industry in general and his brainchild in particular will definitely overcome difficult times, you definitely need to be ready for this period. Zhao mainly attributes this to the growth of additional checks and questions that appeared to his company after the deafening collapse of the FTX exchange. And also with the strongest outflow of client funds by $ 2 billion at the end of last year, caused by concerns about the safety of assets that have not disappeared anywhere.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who recently announced his intention to carry out a second wave of staff reductions and lay off another 950 employees, is also forced to deal with the consequences of an unfinished crisis. Thus, the total number of managers will decrease by about 25%. And although Armstrong, like Zhao, declares that the current global situation and the precedent with FTX will not be able to knock his company out of the rut, his actions and the lack of positive forecasts suggest that overcoming the "crypto winter" may be delayed indefinitely.
And in the price forecasts, including for bitcoin, confident and even unhealthy in some cases optimism has not justified itself. Venture capitalist and billionaire Tim Draper stated that at the beginning of 2023 bitcoin will be worth $ 250,000, and he did not change his mind even after the bankruptcy of FTX. As it has already become obvious, these words turned out to be more than unrealistic.
Among the relatively general forecasts for 2023, in which many experts agree, one can name the tightening of regulation of the crypto market, as well as the consolidation and unification of crypto services. As for the trading instruments themselves, the course to restore their value has been taken, but the price increase may be "creeping" with periods of turbulence. Therefore, the key assets that are least subject to volatility will continue to be the most in demand.
Thus, in the coming year, the crypto industry will continue to emerge from the crisis, gain momentum and regain lost positions. However, its explosive growth will be a happy coincidence rather than a reality that can be predicted here and now. This is evidenced by both the global conjuncture and the cost-cutting policy of the owners of the largest crypto exchanges.
