With the collapse of Terra and FTX, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, rising inflation and interest rates, all compounded by the bitter crypto winter, things don’t look very promising for the digital asset industry going into 2023. However, it’s not all doom, gloom and despair for the cryptosphere. Several positives have also emerged as this horrid year draws to a close. Tag along as we highlight some of these encouraging developments and why they could spell better days for the crypto markets in the New Year.
Bitcoin accumulation increases, while withdrawals decrease
A recent study from Glassnode, a blockchain analytics firm, showed that BTC HODLer accounts (long-term investors) and their balances have increased in 2022. According to the study, the number of these "accumulation addresses" is closing in on the 1 million mark ( 793,591), a milestone that has never been seen before. Moreover, the balance held by all these accounts is 3,099,828 BTC, an 18 percent increase since last the same time last year.
Moreover, the number of BTC leaving exchanges has also slowed, indicating the FUD from the FTX implosion could be at its end. For instance, Bitcoin exchange outflows peaked after the collapse of FTX, hitting 142,788 BTC on Nov 14. This figure dropped 93 percent, reaching 9,300 BTC on Dec 25, the lowest it has been in the last 7 months. Together, these are very positive indicators for Bitcoin; they signal strong investor confidence going into 2023. And usually, what’s good for Bitcoin is also good for the rest of the crypto market.
The increasing number of crypto jobs
Yes, 2022 witnessed massive layoffs in the crypto sector. Popular crypto platforms such as Coinbase, Kraken, Huobi, and many others laid off thousands of employees to battle the desperate market conditions. In all, more than 26,000 crypto-related jobs were slashed in 2022. However, this still pales in comparison to the number of jobs filled in the same sector in 2022.
According to data from Block Research, the number of crypto jobs filled reached the 82,200 mark this year; a 351 percent uptick from the 18,200 jobs back in 2019. There is now a flurry of jobs across Web3, spanning various departments, ranging from software, design, data analysis, infotech, metaverse, market research, trading, and so many other areas that are intrinsically linked to Web3 and the crypto ecosystem.
Among all the departments, trading and brokerage consist of more than 50 percent of the jobs. It is also interesting to point out that, despite suffering huge losses this year, the NFT (non-fungible tokens) market itself accounted for almost 6,738 jobs. Crypto exchanges still account for the maximum number of job positions with Binance leading the pack.
Investments in crypto are still high
With the collapse of Terra and the implosion of FTX, you’d think that VCs wouldn’t want anything to do with the crypto industry. After all, prices are down, hacks are up and market conditions continue to look gloomy at best. However, despite the seemingly negative outlook, the crypto sector managed to secure the most VC funding in the emerging technology space, even outperforming FinTech and BioTech.
As per CoinTelegraph data, crypto VC funding reached $36.1 billion in 2022. That’s nearly 20 percent more than 2021, despite all the terrible events we have seen this year. In the last ten days alone, crypto and web3 projects like Earn Alliance, Ramp Network, Roboto Games, Burn Ghost, and Keyrock have managed to raise over $175 million in funding. In other news, Animoca Games, one of the largest crypto VCs, announced a massive $2 billion metaverse development fund on Dec 2.
These are all good signs for the crypto market. They indicate that there is still positive sentiment around the digital assets industry as we head into the New Year. However, will these positive sentiments outweigh all the destruction, FUD and gloom of 2022? That remains to be seen.
(Edited by : Anushka Sharma)
