Bitcoin, safe haven or speculative asset? What to expect in 2023 – Corriere.it

Safe haven or mere speculative asset? Bitcoin and its community will have all of 2023 to demonstrate how much and if the first cryptocurrency in history is really worth. If you look exclusively at the price trend, the prospects are not exactly rosy. From the all-time high of $69,000 reached in November 2021, today bitcoin does not even reach 18,000, remaining below the psychological threshold of $20,000 reached in December 2017. Two main events that brought trading back to five years ago: the collapse of the Terra Luna blockchain on May 8 and the most recent failure of the Ftx exchange. The echo generated by the media clamor has prompted many small savers to sell their shares at a loss in order to get back part of the sums invested.

The flight of investors from Bitcoin

It is the “crypto tourists” who have come out – says Federico Izzi, financial analyst and independent trader -. I am referring to those people who approached the instrument and bought it without real knowledge of the facts. They let themselves be deceived by the promise of easy money and acted under the effect of the so-called “Fomo” (an acronic of Fear of missing out, i.e. the fear of being excluded from social experiences considered gratifyingthe, ed). Furthermore, in the journalistic reconstruction of the Ftx scandal, it was not made clear enough that it did not directly concern bitcoin. The general confidence therefore failed and the adventurers withdrew. In the last 24 months, the movements of the queen cryptocurrency have aligned with those of the stock market, especially the Nasdaq and Standard & Poor’s 500 indexes. But at a time when central banks are raising interest rates, investors prefer to place their money on products deemed safer and less volatile than the new digital gold, bonds and government bonds in the lead. Yet zero risk does not exist and scammers can also take advantage of traditional financial instruments to circumvent the unfortunates. Jailbird is the message passed on by the ill-intentioned, but to believe that they can get rich in a short time and with exponential percentage increases, at least naive. instead, it is good practice to set limits and reflect on hypothetical losses.

Exchange: pros and cons

Those who still don’t know enough can go through exchanges, intermediaries that facilitate the buying and selling of cryptocurrencies with current currencies. There are two most popular platforms: Binance in Europe, Coinbase in the United States. Both offer the user a debit card to simplify spending in the real world. Some brokers issue proprietary tokens with which they undertake dubious creative finance operations. They behave like banks, even if they don’t enjoy the same trust on the part of citizens, which is necessary for the system to function. To grow in credibility, they end up offering loans at very low interest rates and dizzying yields, often without sufficient underlying liquidity.

What will happen in 2023

The new consumer protection regulations will not have an impact on volatility – concludes Izzi -. The price is set by the market, stimulated by the more or less extensive network of users, not the institutions. Even if too high a taxation would end up penalizing purchases. I believe that 2023 will be the year of reckoning within the ecosystem. Those who have speculated on people’s imprudence have caused damage to the whole circuit, which is now asking for internal cleaning. If this happens, the values ​​will go back to what they once were. And in the spring of 2024, in view of the halving (when the reward paid to bitcoin miners is halved and the number of specimens decreases, ed) they could even increase.