On December 4, 2022, Standard Chartered made a list of surprises that might come forth in 2023. According to the list, we might be looking at President Joe Biden’s impeachment and oil price dropping. Unsurprisingly, crypto made it into the list as well.
At the moment, Standard Chartered believes that the Bitcoin slump is far from over. Head of Research Eric Robertson said that Bitcoin might drop down to $5000 next year which the current market is “under-pricing”. If this scenario came through, we would be looking directly at a 70% drop from today’s (December 5, 2022) price of $17,000. He added that the demand for BTC as digital gold might shift to actual gold. He argued that:
“The decrease in Bitcoin’s price will coincide with a rise in gold, with the yellow metal potentially rallying up 30% to $2,250 per ounce. This will happen when crypto falls further and more crypto businesses succumb to liquidity squeezes and investor withdraws.”
Robertson further stated:
“The 2023 gold recovery occurs when market resume their bear market and the connection between equity and bond prices return to negative.”
However, he emphasized that he was not making any forecasts. It is merely a consideration of situations that are fundamentally different from the present market view.
Focus on the Blockchain Technology
On the other hand, the founder of Ethereum Vitalik Buterin is advising investors and traders to focus on the technology. Even though the crypto market is getting out of hand, blockchain technology is still a sector waiting for exploration. He thinks that investors and market participants should take this opportunity to explore more. It is a prime time to understand the underlying blockchain ecosystem and distributed ledger technology. He tweeted:
“I’d advocate moving away from trading/investing circles and closer to the tech and application industry.” Learn about ZK-SNARKs, attend a Latin American meetup, listen to All Core Devs calls, and read the notes until you know all the EIP numbers…”
This response came after CoinMamba talked about his exhaustion from the crypto market after 9 years.
Closing Thoughts
Currently, we are looking at a market opinion that splits 50/50. Standard Chartered and some investors are predicting the downfall of crypto. Some hedge fund managers are positive about crypto instead. However, I agree with Buterin’s advice on crypto. This is undeniably the best time for us to explore the crypto market for its technology. Blockchain is interesting and often filled with surprises. Maybe it is high time for us to explore what else can blockchain bring into our lives. Check out our MEXC trading page and find out what we have to offer! You can learn more about crypto industry news and interesting articles to get you up to speed with the crypto world. Happy trading!
