In December 2023, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) broke out from a $38,500 base to as high as $45,000. I ended the year at $42,236. The sector benefited from calm stock markets rising, expectations of interest rate cuts, the listing of a Bitcoin ETF, and Binance’s Changpeng Zhao pleading guilty.
CZ’s fortunes increased in 2023. His net worth increased by nearly $25 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Now that CZ is worth $37 billion and retains his controlling stake in Binance, expect calm ahead for cryptocurrency. Similarly, crypto platforms will start to rekindle their user growth.
The soaring wealth of CZ and Coinbase (COIN) CEO Armstrong increased his wealth by $5.8 billion as a result of their early investments. Today, crypto investors are unlikely to grow their wealth at the same pace. Instead, crypto users may enjoy an alternative to gold and fiat currency for settling trades.
Ethereum (ETH-USD) is the second most-watched cryptocurrency. Its breakout to as high as $2,400 in the last month mirrors BTC-USD. Readers looking for smaller coins should watch Fantom (FTC-USD). It traded as high as around $0.55 before pulling back.
The Fantom Foundation launched testnet on Dec. 15, 2023. As more users try its newest Sonic testnet, Fantom developers will have dApps launched on Sonic technology for the mainnet release next.
