Since the first-ever cryptocurrency was launched in 2009, a lot has happened in the crypto industry- from experiencing an all-time high of $68,000 to even experiencing various crashes which extended to long crypto winters.

While 2021 was a good year for cryptocurrency and the NFT industry, 2022 did not quite go as planned. According to a study by Dune Analytics, non-fungible tokens fell to around $466 million in September from $17 billion recorded in January.

So, what should we expect from the crypto industry in 2023? Keep reading to find out.


5 Crypto Predictions To Look Out For In 2023

1. Increase in the adoption of Bitcoin:
Bitcoin was launched in 2009, and since then, it has grown tremendously. From being worth nothing in 2009 to now being worth over $16,000, Bitcoin has significantly grown in popularity and value and has millions of users worldwide. Despite the significant popularity of Bitcoin among people globally, its adoption is said to increase in 2023.
More countries will open up to the digital currency, more people will invest in it, and more businesses will accept it as a payment option.

2. We May Say Goodbye To a Lot Of Memecoins:
Meme coins are digital currencies or cryptocurrencies created initially as a joke or mimicking mainstream crypto coins. Dogecoin was the first ever meme coin created, and it was launched in 2013. Since then, over 200 meme coins have been created; some survived and grew significantly (for example, Shiba Inu), while some failed (for example, SQUID token).

3. Ether Will Surpass Bitcoin in Performance:
Ether is the native crypto for the Ethereum blockchain and network, and in 2022, it outperformed Bitcoin. In 2022, it gained 418 per cent as opposed to 66 per cent for Bitcoin. Although it might take a long time to overtake Bitcoin in value, in 2023, ETH is expected to continue to outperform Bitcoin.

4. The Beacon Chain will be enabled for withdrawals on Ethereum:
The long-talked-about Merge happened in September of 2022, which resulted in the Ethereum Mainnet merge with the Beacon Chain and converting to a singular blockchain with a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. In return for committing Ether, stakers currently receive ~5% interest rates annually. Withdrawals, however, have yet to be enabled, potentially inhibiting adoption. When withdrawals from the Beacon chain have been enabled, stakers will have more faith to commit capital to the protocol. The percentage of ETH staked could rise from ~13% to above 25%

5. NFTs will grow past the era of “Jpeg”:
In 2023, it is expected that non-fungible tokens will move past the era of mainly JPEG forms of NFTs, and more forms will take centre stage. For the past two years, with the increase in the performance of NFTs and the NFT market, JPEG NFTs will become a multi-billion-dollar asset class.
Although the sale of JPEG non-fungible tokens will still carry on, other forms of NFTs are expected to rise in 2023.


Conclusion
2021 was a good year for the crypto and NFT industry, but the same cannot be said for 2022. As the year draws to a close and we are going to 2023, we are hopeful for the year.

Kindly note that none of the information above should be taken as financial advice.

This article is written by Somebody From Breet. Breet is an OTC crypto trading app in Africa where users can sell their crypto, convert it to cash and withdraw it directly to their local bank account instantly.

It's interesting to hear your predictions. Of course, I understand that it's your personal opinion, mainly. Still, I'm curious how accurate your predictions will be.

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