Cryptocurrency Horizons: A 2023 Recap and Glimpse into 2024 Trends

Some quite interesting things happened inside the crypto world in 2023, and some others will come in 2024, likely. We ended the year with a bullish note in the whole market —something that we couldn’t say in 2022. On the other hand, according to some sources, crypto adoption didn’t rise last year, but it still holds some promises for the future.

Per Chainalysis, the global crypto adoption landscape is being dominated by central and southern Asia. Their Global Crypto Adoption Index led to this conclusion considering factors like cryptocurrency value traded on centralized exchanges and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) DeFi protocols in different countries. More specifically, India, Nigeria, Vietnam, United States, Ukraine, Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, and Thailand (in that order) were the top crypto-adopters worldwide in 2023.

Let’s explore more about them, and also about some other relevant factors for crypto adoption in 2023 and this new year.

Top Crypto-Adopters

Well, despite people trading online a lot, not everything is sweet for the top countries by crypto adoption. India finished 2023 by banning the websites of nine global crypto exchanges, including Kraken and Binance, for supposed non-compliance with their Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws. They also have a 30% tax on crypto profits and are still exploring more crypto regulations.

The landscape seems better in Nigeria. After several years of hostilities, their central bank finally decided to lift the ban on financial institutions serving crypto users and firms. This, of course, could increase the adoption this year even though the government imposed a 10% tax on crypto profits. They also plan to regulate Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and stablecoins.

Vietnam, for its part, is still hostile against cryptocurrencies —or at least its government is. There’s a banking ban in place, while the cryptocurrency underlying technology (DLT) is being embraced for other purposes. Pakistan and the Philippines have almost identical stories, banning coins or exchanges but maintaining plans to build their own Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Indonesia is also planning a CBDC, but they created a crypto-specific bourse for exchanges to operate through it. Thailand has been more crypto-friendly, but they have banned crypto lending operations.

Beyond Asia, Ukraine has gladly adopted cryptocurrencies to help in its war against Russia. It’s been calculated that they’ve received at least $225 million from global crypto donations. Meanwhile, in Brazil, several financial institutions are offering crypto services, while a 15% tax will be in place on offshore crypto earnings from 2024. Now, as usual, the United States is involved in some high-profile crypto news this year, given its massive adoption.

What happened to crypto in 2023?

We can say that the US is an ambivalent country, with different laws in different states. For instance, Wyoming has been considered one of the most crypto-friendly destinations worldwide; while the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been suing over 150 crypto projects and brands since 2013. And last year wasn’t different.

In June 2023, the SEC sued Binance and Coinbase, two of the largest crypto exchanges by volume. Seeing the conclusion of those processes may take a while, considering that their lawsuit against Ripple started in 2020 and barely finished this year —with favorable results for the crypto firm in July.

However, in November, Changpeng Zhao (ex-CEO of Binance) pleaded guilty to charges of violations of AML laws in the US. The exchange is expected to pay over $4 billion in penalties, while Zhao will be judged in the country. Binance's new CEO is Richard Teng, and the brand’s products are working normally.

Also in the US, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), ex-CEO of the infamous crypto exchange FTX, was declared guilty in his fraud trial. He’s expected to serve decades in prison, while Zhao could barely face some months.

Moving away from the US, Terra (LUNA) founder, Do Kwon, was arrested in Montenegro in March. El Salvador, still the only country with Bitcoin as legal tender, is planning to issue new Bitcoin “Volcano Bonds” for 2024 and passed a law to offer citizenship to foreigners who invest BTC in the country. In the European Union, the MiCA law (Markets in Crypto Assets) was finally approved in April, and it’s set to take full force in June 2024.

In general, the whole crypto market capitalization increased by over 101% in 2023 (according to CMC). Besides, cryptocurrencies are now legal in 119 countries, which is most of the world (according to CoinGecko). Investors can start 2024 with some good news.

Obyte in 2023

We released several DeFi products in 2023, available for everyone, and Obyte had its seventh birthday last Christmas. We’ve been working hard to improve our ecosystem and add awesome new opportunities for all users.

April brought us the OSWAP Token, the first-ever DEX token issued on a bonding curve. This asset is an integral part of the Oswap.io DEX, and not only serves as a governance token but also acts as a reward mechanism. Users can stake their holdings to get long-term rewards, deposit their LP tokens to receive a share of OSWAP emissions, and participate in the governance of the system. The farming pools are now offering up to 900,257% Annual Percentage Yield (APY) to liquidity providers.

June saw the official release of the ArbStore, a groundbreaking decentralized escrow platform featuring professional arbiters and a new type of smart contract in the Obyte wallet (Contracts with Arbitration). ArbStore provides a secure and trustless environment for international trade, ensuring a fair and efficient dispute-resolution process.

Both parties of a contract can write and privately share their own terms inside their Obyte wallets, deposit the funds, and take advantage of the smart contract and selected arbiter to protect their mutual conditions.

In August, we joined the Kava Rise reward program and launched the new LINE token, a price-protected asset for rewards. As part of the program, Dapps developers receive generous rewards of 1,000,000 KAVA tokens (approximately $1 million) monthly. Obyte enrolled two Dapps: Counterstake Bridge and LINE. The funds obtained from it are used to create buy pressure for GBYTE, and we're distributing 90% of the acquired GBYTEs to users actively contributing to the TVL on Counterstake and LINE.

Cryptocurrency Trends for 2024

We can never be sure about the future, but some early trends can give us some clues about what’s next for the crypto world. According to the 2024 Crypto Trend Report by Gemini, we could have some interesting things going. They expect, for instance, a higher intersection between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency systems.

The integration is expected to revolutionize various aspects, including smart contracts, secure data solutions, transparent large language models, crypto security (audits), and the fight against disinformation. In the meantime, AI-related tokens are experiencing a notable surge in prices, signaling a growing interest and confidence in the market.

On the other hand, there’s hype around a potential approval for a Spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States. The release of this product, along with the next Bitcoin halving (to reduce the supply inflation) in April 2024, could positively affect the Bitcoin price, and, by extension, the whole crypto market capitalization.

More regulation is coming worldwide, though. Even if most countries have legalized cryptocurrencies, only 52.1% have applied specific frameworks (according to CoinGecko). The MiCA law is the first one to cover multiple aspects of cryptocurrencies for numerous countries at one time. As a consequence of a major regulatory clarity, more institutions and companies could adopt cryptocurrencies to invest or offer services for users, and even to create their own stablecoins.

What’s next for Obyte?

We have some interesting projects in progress for Obyte. For instance, we’re planning to update the order provider (OP) selection process soon to make it entirely controlled by the users. Let’s remember that the OPs are reputable Obyte users, often companies or organizations, whose transactions serve as waypoints for ordering all others.

Besides, we’re currently in negotiations with a reputable global exchange to list GBYTE. The new listing will come very soon, and we’re going to announce all the details in the next few weeks.

For now, you can enjoy any of our current features, including but not limited to autonomous agents for automatic tasks, wallet chatbots, textcoins, ID solutions, smart contracts, and new reward programs. Our liquidity providers receive weekly payments, and our average users can always transact in a fast, inexpensive, and censorship-free environment. Let’s make 2024 awesome and decentralized too!