Riding off the back of FTX’s collapse, patient crypto investors made huge returns in 2023, with the United States topping the charts.
Bitcoin’s push to a new all-time high might mean huge returns for investors in 2024, but the previous year wasn’t so bad for investors either. Data from industry giant Chainalysis shows that crypto investors cashed out over $37 billion in 2023.
Major gainers from 2023 were hodlers who held through the winter market of 2022, where Bitcoin bottomed at $16,000. The gains were also recoveries for the crypto sector, which saw investors lose $127.1 billion the previous year.
Market Recovery
Bitcoin crumbled on the news of the FTX implosion back in November 2022 but recovered over 200% by the end of 2023. Macroeconomics, such as the Federal Reserve System’s (FED) interest rate cut and the expectation of the approval of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), saw Bitcoin and the entire crypto market recover significantly.
Chainalysis research showed that Bitcoin was the best-performing asset class in the world, outperforming gold, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq, and other traditional assets. This turnaround boosted the crypto market, and investors gained over $37 billion.
The United States leads the gains chart by country, with investors in the region bagging $9.36 billion. This has not come as a surprise, as the US controls a chunk of crypto’s participation. The United Kingdom and Vietnam are in second and third place, respectively, with gains of $1.39 billion and $1.18 billion.
Despite the ban on crypto activities in China, the country ranks fourth in the world with the most gains by investors. China residents made $1.15 billion from cryptocurrencies in 2023.
A Better 2024
The year is already off to a flying start, with Bitcoin historically reaching a new all-time high before its halving in April 2023. On-chain data shows that open interest in Bitcoin reached its peak of $35 billion when the crypto asset touched $73,000 earlier.
With the upcoming halving, coupled with the supply shock expected due to incessant demand for Bitcoin by U.S.-based ETF products, Bitcoin and the crypto market might reach new heights of gains by the end of the year. It is worth noting that 2021 remains the year with the highest realized crypto gains, as investors made $159.7 billion from the year’s bull run.
