The year is almost over and that means we can enjoy our neighbor’s illegal fireworks again! But did you know that cryptocurrency prices shoot off fireworks all year round?
The year 2023 started with a big hangover from the FTX debacle, but by the end of the year the crypto market had recovered quite well.

View the highlights of the crypto market in 2023 here! The percentages behind the months represent Bitcoin price movements.
January +36.52%
What a start to the year! Everyone wants to forget 2022 as quickly as possible and that is reflected in the race. The excitement is back in the market. Bitcoin rises by 36.52%, from 15 thousand to 21 thousand euros.
Despite the increase, the market has not yet been able to say goodbye to the previous disastrous year. American crypto lending company Genesis has filed for bankruptcy. This has been happening for a while. Many people were fired and eventually the doors had to be closed.
There was also some news from the Netherlands, but whether we should settle for that is another question. Coinbase has received a multi-million dollar fine from our central bank.
February +4.07%
Things calmed down a bit for Bitcoin in February, but there were still gains. The price increased by almost 900 euros during the month.
This month will go down in history as the beginning of NFTs on Bitcoin. Inscriptions and ordinal numbers were introduced, sparking heated debate in the community. One party believes that Bitcoin should only be used for financial transactions, while the rest believes that everyone should know what to do with BTC.
The crypto community was at its best in February. Turkey and Syria were hit by earthquakes earlier this month. Many initiatives were immediately launched to increase encryption for reconstruction and victims.
Mid-month we also saw the US government trying to crack down on cryptocurrencies. Several stock exchanges collapsed.
March +17.47%
The party wasn’t over yet. Bitcoin also rose significantly in March. The price dropped by another 25,000 euros!
The month started with a major outage on Solana. This would not be the only disruption in 2023, the blockchain has already stopped working several times.
There was also positive news about the ETF. The judge believes that the SEC should not reject Grayscale’s request and should reconsider.
In March, Greenpeace spoke about Bitcoin for the first time this year. The old energy argument was used again. Greenpeace unveiled a work of art called ‘Skyll of Satoshi’ on March 23. It was a skull with the Bitcoin logo and red laser eyes.
April +0.06%
It’s time to slow down a bit. It’s still a year before the halving takes place, so there’s no reason to go all-in right away.
What events marked April? First, there was almost no money to trade on the stock markets. Liquidity was very low, which caused trading to pick up.
Plus, the SEC was in turmoil. They classified many tokens as securities, making them subject to their regulations.
Is there also good news? Naturally! Someone discovered that Apple had secretly hidden Bitcoin whitepapers on all its devices.
May -3.16%
In 2023, Bitcoin experienced a monthly price drop for the first time. Could it be news from Africa?
The Central African Republic was one of the few countries with Bitcoin as legal tender, but stopped doing so in May. The biggest problem associated with Bitcoin adoption in the Central African Republic has been the population’s limited ability to use the internet. Only 10 percent of the population appears to have access to the internet.
Furthermore, Hamas stated that it no longer wanted donations in Bitcoin as it could not guarantee the confidentiality of transactions. That’s right! Bitcoin is not an anonymous network where you can easily steal or launder money.
Another important local news is that the Dutch crypto company Litebit is officially closing. Customers are referred to various other parties, including BLOX.
June +10.04%
June starts with everything! It is (again) legal to trade and own cryptocurrencies in Hong Kong. This means that billions of Chinese can invest money in crypto via Hong Kong.
Unfortunately, June also saw a major Atomic Wallet hack. Many users complain that all their investments are gone.
Moreover, the SEC opens the attack with charges against several exchanges, including Binance. Anyway, it was an unpleasant month for this exchange, as Binance stopped trading in the Netherlands.
In the Netherlands, crypto companies must be registered with De Nederlandsche Bank. This means that business operations must be first-class, but also that these companies must pay DNB to supervise their own sector. Binance did not want to comply with this. The rest of the Dutch crypto sector finds the regulatory costs too high and is suing DNB.
But the biggest news? BlackRock Files for a Bitcoin ETF! Many see this as a turning point for Bitcoin.

Till tomorrow morning!
This concludes the first part of our annual review. For much of the first half of 2023, there was a sense that the glass was half empty, but the adoption of BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF completely negated that in the second half! We’ll be back tomorrow with the second part.
Source: BtcDirect
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Barry Siefert is an accomplished journalist and author at The Nation View. He is known for his expertise in the field of cryptocurrency, and has written extensively on the topic. With a background in finance and economics, Barry has a deep understanding of the underlying technology and market forces that drive the crypto industry.