Many would argue that the cryptocurrency market is just one big shock after another, but there have been some events that proved more shaking than others. Whether it’s the emergence of a new cryptocurrency to the market, the collapse of an old one, or something else altogether, barely a day goes by without something newsworthy happening in the world of crypto. We’re going to take a look at some of the biggest crypto-induced shocks of all time, including more than one from everybody’s favourite, Bitcoin.
Bitcoin – The One That Started It All
It makes sense to start with the crypto that really kicked things off and that’s Bitcoin. This coin has been in circulation for more than a decade now and still, it manages to defy the latest trends in crypto business sector and provide plenty of shocking moments. The most recent is the fact that despite bitcoin plummeting at the end of 2022, it has recently managed to climb back to its earlier heights with values topping $30,000 per bitcoin since July of this year. After such a collapse it’s incredible that this crypto has proven it can withstand blips in the market and come back stronger than ever.Â
Of course, a lot of this might have been helped along by Elon Musk, who predicted that cryptocurrency, in general, will see more than $30 trillion of capital hit the market. Musk has a huge platform, what with being the owner of Twitter and everything, so it’s no surprise that his bold prediction made a big difference to the market. People immediately began investing and whilst this has certainly boosted the market across the board, it still is to be seen whether Musk’s predictions will turn out to be true.
XRP – A Landmark Lawsuit
On the 14th of July this year, the crypto market saw another boom, totalling around $60 billion. This came about because the developers of the cryptocurrency XRP won a landmark legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It was being contested that selling XRP on crypto exchanges was tantamount to selling investment contracts, However, Ripple (XRP’s developers) disputed this, and the judge agreed. This result led to an explosion of press coverage for XRP and with it an enormous amount of investment. The price of the cryptocurrency practically doubled overnight, making it the fourth-largest cryptocurrency in circulation. Taking on a government agency and winning is no mean feat and it certainly wasn’t easy work for Ripple. With that said, many investors were delighted to see the complaints of a crypto company taken seriously, and this has been reflected in the price of XRP.
Wall Street Memes – The Million Dollar Whale
It seems as though a new cryptocurrency comes to the market every other day at the moment, but there’s one that’s come about recently which has performed surprisingly well. Wall Street Memes is a new cryptocurrency that has an ambitious $30 million first funding target. Their goal is to show the bankers and hedge fund managers of Wall Street that a ‘joke’ cryptocurrency can and will make a sound investment. Well, despite their light-hearted name and their ambitious targets, it looks like Wall Street Memes (WSM) is going to achieve its goals. Just the other day there was a $1 million investment from a single crypto whale. Whilst an entire Reddit forum can easily achieve $1 million in investments, for one person to invest this much means that there really is belief in the coin. Whether this belief is well-founded or not, it’s hard to say for sure, but the coin has already surpassed the $20 million mark in its initial round of funding, so it appears that WSM might not have been so wildly ambitious after all.
Bitcoin Cash – The Surprise Top Performer This Year
It’s always good to finish on a positive note and the success of Bitcoin Cash (BTC) has certainly been more positive than most thought possible. Bitcoin Cash came about because of people wanting to make transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain faster and have lower gas fees. They managed to achieve this with BTC and after a slow start they’ve achieved great numbers in 2023. In January alone the crypto surged 35%, followed this with a marginal loss and then finished off with just shy of a 100% rise in June. The crypto continues to perform well and has proven that crypto on the Bitcoin blockchain can be a sound investment. Of course, the launch of the new EDX Markets, a digital asset exchange will certainly have supplied a healthy boost to BTC. At the time of launch, EDX Markets only listed four cryptocurrencies in its exchange, one of which being BTC. A boost like this shouldn’t be underestimated, but still, if BTC keeps performing well this year than it should have silenced any doubters.
Also Read: How to preserve anonymity while working with cryptocurrencies: expert opinions
