A report retrieved from Wu Blockchain has shown that Bitcoin was the best-performing asset in the first six months of the year. The flagship digital asset rose over 80% to close above $30,000 last Friday, outmatching other major global assets like NASDAQ, British Pound, Euro, Japanese Yen, NYMEX Natural Gas and other stocks in the process.
Recall that Bitcoin’s trajectory for 2023 has been with a bullish undertone. It commenced the year with a strong bullish sentiment and the price rose by 47% within the first month of the year, setting the tone for the following weeks.
The rise of the flagship cryptocurrency was characterised by typical declines, with support and resistance levels impacting the price change. Bitcoin’s price dropped to $19,569 in March after climbing over $25,000 for the first time since August 2022. Many analysts identified the climb above $25,000 as a significant move to confirm the end of the bear market.
Another phase of the bullish trend returned to the Bitcoin market in the middle of June. The digital asset gained over 58% in about four weeks during that period, as the price surpassed the $30,000 level for the first time since June 2022.
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Data shows that Bitcoin’s price at the end of June was $30,469, marking a yearly gain of over 83%. Now, the majority of the digital asset’s proponents consider this time a consolidation and accumulation opportunity with the anticipation of a bull run ahead of the next Bitcoin halving, which comes up in 2024.
How Bitcoin outpaced other major assets in H1 2023
Data from renowned crypto reporter Wu Blockchain shows that Bitcoin’s value increased by 83.8% in the first half of 2023, ranking first and exceeding other major world assets by a significant margin.
In the second position is the Nasdaq index, whose value increased by 31.7%. Followed by Nikkei225 Index (27.19%), Germany DAX Index (15.98%), Euro Stoxx 50 Index (15.96%), S&P 500 Index (15.91%) respectively.
A 37% drop in value puts natural gas in the bottom position following the fall in the prices of other energy sources.
Also, a Market Watch report says crypto-related exchange-traded funds skyrocketed in the first half of 2023, outperforming other United States-listed ETFs. In a phone interview with the Finance media, Aniket Ullal, head of ETF data and analytics at CFRA, confirmed that the top 15 ETFs in terms of performance this year have exposure to crypto or blockchain.
How Bitcoin was able to outperform other assets
In the first half of the year, the crypto market dealt with the effect of the FTX collapse and last year’s collapse of several crypto-related firms. However, the space soon shrugged those concerns off as the industry witnessed renewed institutional demand.
On June 15, BlackRock, the largest asset management firm in the world with around $10 trillion worth of assets under management, applied for a Bitcoin spot ETF. This move triggered other institutions like Fidelity and others to file a similar application for a spot ETF.
Amid these events, BTC’s price nearly doubled from around $16,000 to above $31,000, outperforming other earlier mentioned significant assets like gold, S&P 500, Nikkei 225 index, and others.
Also, the first half of 2023 has witnessed the emergence of Ordinals on the Bitcoin blockchain network. The Ordinals Inscriptions are similar to NFTs as it allows the inscriptions of text, audio, and images into the smallest denomination of a Bitcoin, Satoshi.
At the peak of its craze, Ordinals pushed Bitcoin’s average daily transactions to a record high, leading to higher network fees. This is demonstrative of the huge effect the innovation has had on Bitcoin.
What is next?
Experts have predicted that despite the SEC’s recent lawsuits, the crypto market will continue to push that aside and soar amidst renewed institutional investors’ interest.
Read also:
3 cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin to consider buying this July
As BTC continues to dominate the charts and media headlines, the flurry of Bitcoin ETF applications will propel more crypto whales into buying, thereby improving the general sentiment in the market.
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