The year 2022 wasn't the best time for Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin fell 65 per cent year-to-date, or down from around $46,000 in January to about $16,800 now.
Bitcoin rose to its highest level on March 30 at $47,000. But it dropped to $30,000 in May and $18,000 in June. However, the prices slightly recovered to $22,000 in September.
Before the FTX collapse last month, BTC traded above the $20,000 mark. The FTX collapse had sent shockwaves across the industry, leading to a sharp drop in crypto market capitalisation.
Bitcoin's price has dropped 63 per cent since January 1, 2022. However, it was the most searched cryptocurrency on Google in 2022, at 28.41 million monthly searches worldwide, said DollarGeek, a personal finance portal.
"The overall market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies has decreased significantly over the last year. The total market cap of cryptocurrencies was more than 2.24 trillion on January 1, 2022. Currently, it is at less than a trillion dollars," said Rajagopal Menon, vice president at WazirX.
Prashant Kumar, founder and CEO at weTrade, a crypto platform, said there were some similarities in the price movements of the cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin and Nasdaq-listed tech stocks. However, he said, Bitcoin prices may see some stability in 2023.
In the last one year, cryptocurrencies' combined market value has decreased noticeably. The market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies fell from 2.24 trillion on January 1, 2022, to less than one trillion currently.
Although it recovered a bit in July, pushing the market cap above $1 trillion, it declined later. As of December 21, it stood at around $810 billion, less than one-third of its peak of $3 trillion in November 2021.
The general perception of cryptocurrencies remained at an all-time low in India. In the fiscal 2022–2023 budget, the finance minister announced a 30 per cent tax on capital gains from cryptocurrency transactions and an additional 1 per cent tax deducted at source (TDS).
