Annus horribilis — that's Latin for "a horrible year." And it's the perfect phrase when describing what happened to Bitcoin in 2022. Over on CoinMarketCap Alexandria, we've got a month-by-month look at the biggest stories of the year.
Things were already challenging for BTC because of the headwinds facing the global economy. There was a war in Ukraine to worry about, with central banks dramatically ramping up interest rates to bring red-hot inflation under control.
But as the bear market set in, with Bitcoin falling further and further away from all-time highs of $68,700, the world's biggest cryptocurrency suffered several crushing blows.
The Luna Foundation Guard had bought vast amounts of BTC in an attempt to protect the dollar peg of UST, an algorithmic stablecoin. But this warchest worth billions of dollars quickly evaporated when UST fell below $1 — dragging sister altcoin LUNA into a vicious death spiral that wiped $48 billion from the crypto market.
May delivered a horrifying one-week plunge in the value of Bitcoin. And another followed in June, when crypto lenders including the Celsius Network suddenly halted withdrawals — blaming "extreme market conditions." We've had countless bankruptcies this year, with some projects offering interest rates to users that were simply too good to be true. Some may never get their Bitcoin back — and others will only receive a small percentage of their savings.
The latter part of the year has seen Bitcoin languish below $20,000 — a psychologically significant milestone that reflects the all-time high seen during the 2017 bull market. Worse still, BTC has handed back all of the gains accrued during the bull run seen in 2020 and 2021. The industry has been plunged into further turmoil by the most shocking collapse of them all: FTX's bankruptcy. Allegations are swirling that billions of dollars in customer funds were misused by sister trading firm Alameda Research. And FTX's founder Sam Bankman-Fried is now facing criminal charges in the U.S. He's vowing to fight any attempt to extradite him, and is being held in a Bahamian jail cell.
As we head into 2023, there are some burning questions. Will inflation finally be brought under control? Will skyhigh interest rates tip the U.S. and other major economies into a recession? Will Bitcoin remain closely correlated to the stock market? Does the world's biggest cryptocurrency have further to fall? Will the crypto contagion that engulfed FTX spread to other industry players? And how will this affect the debate surrounding regulation?
BTC has slid by 64% in the year to date — and many retail investors had already exited the market by the time FTX went under. But bankruptcies like this have likely alienated some true believers who had vowed to HODL through adversity. It's going to take a long time for the crypto community to rebuild trust and credibility — if it ever does at all.
The coming 12 months may very well be dominated by sideways price action. The next Bitcoin halving is due to take place in 2024, an event that's widely seen as a catalyst for triggering bull runs. Any fresh all-time high may be years away. Will badly burned retail investors come along for the ride if bullish momentum returns — and would BTC be able to thrive without them?
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