The Best Investment Field In The First Half Of 2023?

After a series of crises from the Banking sector as well as a lot of global geopolitical upheaval, the first half of 2023 saw the Bitcoin (BTC) price increase by about 84% to over $30,000. This digital asset class surpassed stocks and gold to become the most profitable investment channel in the first half of this year.

After months of falling into a bear market, towards the end of 2022, the crypto market suffered a major shock when the FTX exchange was shut down on allegations of fraud, pushing the bitcoin price to a record low.

However, by 2023, the largest cryptocurrency in the market has had a spectacular recovery and more than doubled from last year's lows.

In late March, following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and a host of other banks, investors globally looked to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a haven.

This year's rally for bitcoin in general and cryptocurrencies in particular also has some challenges. At the beginning of June, when the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued two major cryptocurrency exchanges, Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and Binance, billions of dollars flowed out of exchanges as investors investment rushed to sell off.

One of the bullish drivers for the crypto market in 2023 is the Fed signaling the possibility of a halt to rate hikes as inflation and the labor market begin to cool, according to Barron’s.

However, the biggest factor driving the bitcoin price is the participation of many financial giants. Bitcoin's most recent bull run was in late June, when BlackRock, Fidelity, and several traditional financial firms filed to form a Bitcoin ETF.

The SEC is still the authority that decides whether to approve a Bitcoin ETF. A recent article from the Wall Street Journal shows that the agency found several problems in the application.