Bitcoin as the world’s dominant cryptocurrency has been uncharacteristically quiet for the past 2 weeks, hovering between $15,770 and $17,350 after the market crash caused by the collapse of the FTX exchange in November, and now what happens next, no one knows, writes Reuters.
“Now we have to ask ourselves: are there any sellers left in this market? In my opinion, there aren’t many left,” said Jacob Sansbury, co-founder of Pluto, a retail investor services company.
Sansbury pointed out that most of the miners with excessive credit, who tend to be big bitcoin holders, have closed positions to pay off debts incurred in traditional, fiat money to fund equipment purchases and operations.
That explains some of the lull: the number of bitcoins for sale is now lower than at the beginning of the year: the amount held on trading platforms is 1.97 million, Coinglass data shows, whereas it was 2.33 million.
Bitcoin is down more than 60 percent in 2022, and many remaining investors are putting BTC into offline storage, which should strengthen the minimum price around $16,000, according to Bob Ras, co-founder of Sologenic, an exchange and digital asset firm. Nevertheless, best bitcoin casino continues to work.
Ras believes that if not for the high-profile collapse of FTX, Celsius and Terra this year, the price of bitcoin would now be close to $25,000.
But because cryptocurrencies are a particular risky asset, there could be a number of negative surprises ahead.
The first potential danger is the risk of miners selling their assets to stay afloat as mining becomes increasingly expensive. In general, mining is starting to become unprofitable below $20,000.
Also of concern is the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, the world’s largest bitcoin fund with $10.9 billion in assets.The parent company of Digital Currency Group, which owns Genesis Trading, owes $575 million to the cryptocurrency arm of Genesis. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust’s discount to net asset value is at a record low of 48%, and its shares haven’t traded at a premium since March 2021. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust could face financial problems, but if bitcoin can hold steady at $15,000, 2023 will be a strong year for it.
Another potential risk is a more hawkish than expected Federal Reserve attitude at the last meeting of the year this Wednesday, which could further undermine risk appetite and bitcoin prospects.