Bitcoin Price Increases More Than 80 Percent Throughout H1 2023

Previously, the crypto market managed to post a strong closing for the second quarter of 2023 amid sentiment from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the crypto industry.

Reporting from Yahoo Finance, Monday (3/7/2023), at closing, Bitcoin fell below 1 percent to around USD 30,300 or the equivalent of IDR 454.2 million (assuming an exchange rate of IDR 14,993 per US dollar).

Bitcoin is trading relatively flat since rising above USD 30,000 or equivalent to IDR 449.7 million on June 23. Meanwhile, Ether strengthened 4 percent to USD 1,923 or the equivalent of IDR 28.83 million.

Crypto Industry Barriers

Throughout the second quarter of 2023, the crypto industry will go through various obstacles that affect the movement of the crypto market. From the two largest crypto exchanges in the US namely Binance US and Coinbase being sued by the SEC, to BlackRock and Fidelity being able to face hurdles with their recently filed spot Bitcoin ETF applications.

According to Reuters, concerns were raised by the SEC regarding the exchange’s failure to include details of crypto trading platforms that would help detect fraud in the underlying spot market.

Since then the CBOE has resubmitted the application on behalf of Fidelity, Van Eck, Invesco and WisdomTree. All submissions name Coinbase, a leading US crypto exchange, as a potential partner.

Rally in the DeFi Sector

Crypto assets in the DeFi sector were the top gainers including the Maker token MKR, with a 14 percent jump, followed by the Aave token, which was up 9 percent. The CRV Curve and OP Optimism crypto also rose by around 8 percent.

Despite that, the overall volume of decentralized exchanges fell 1.7 percent this week to USD 15.9 billion or equivalent to IDR 238.3 trillion.

Besides Bitcoin and Ether, the top cryptocurrencies by market cap, excluding stablecoins, posted gains of at least 2 percent. Litecoin led the way with a 24 percent gain, followed by Bitcoin Cash (BCH) with a 22 percent jump, and Solana (SOL) with an 8 percent gain.