The Bullish Case for Bitcoin: 2023
hive-167922·@johnwege·
0.000 HBD The Bullish Case for Bitcoin: 2023
 2022 was a difficult year for Bitcoin holders. What was once destined to be the year where Bitcoin would see its price go parabolic and perhaps even reach $100,000. Instead, it ended up being a year of pain and disappointment. If you were lucky, your portfolio was intact but saw the value of your BTC drop by 70%. If you weren’t as lucky, there was a high chance that you lost your coins due to all of the insolvencies that ravaged the market last year. Whichever scenario happened to you, it's likely that the market left you with scars that will take some time to recover from. With us entering a new year, it is often a time when people like to reflect on what happened in the past and look forward to what might happen in the future. Will 2023 be a repeat of last year? Could it be worse? Or, will the market finally begin to recover? Thankfully, there are a lot of things to be bullish about with Bitcoin going into the future. While it is hard to forget the pain of last year, it is also hard not to be excited about the future as well. Today, let’s talk about a few of the exciting things to keep an eye on Bitcoin for in 2023. **Back to its Roots**  While this might not have a direct impact on the price of Bitcoin, users have begun to re-learn what made Bitcoin so great originally. Being able to buy, own, hold, and transact with your Bitcoin anytime you want without needing to trust 3rd parties. This was a lesson that many learned the hard way in 2022 when many people had their funds locked up on services that eventually would become insolvent. Services such as Celsius, BlockFi, Vauld, Hodlnaut, FTX, Voyager, Midas, and more. Now, a large number of Bitcoin owners are going back to the roots and original ethos of Bitcoin. Taking self-custody and trusting no one but yourself. It is great to see. Also, it is important to note that a lot of the Bitcoin that was being lent out was being used to short Bitcoin. Which could have been a factor in keeping Bitcoin’s price lower than it normally would have been. Without all of that BTC being lent out, it could be a bullish scenario. **El Salvador**  Just this week El Salvador passed a bill that will allow the Bitcoin Volcano bond to finally be implemented. The reason why this is important and you should care about it is that it will bring billions of dollars worth of buying pressure to Bitcoin. If successful, other small governments around the world will follow suit and launch their own bitcoin bonds that will help them raise funds in their country instead of being forced to accept predatory loans from the most powerful government agencies in the world. People are truly underestimating how powerful of a movement this could be. Not only reinforcing the idea that Bitcoin allows its users to break free of past monetary systems. But also could be a giant price catalyst once the domino effect begins. **End of Insolvencies**  2022 will be remembered as the year when the crypto industry kept making self-inflicted mistakes that caused countless insolvencies. As we move into the new year there is a lot of hope that all of that is now in the past. Unfortunately, there is currently a lot of FUD surrounding Genesis, which could lead to even more insolvencies in the market. However, if that situation is avoided, or finally does actually happen. The hope is that this will be the last event. From here on out, 2023 will be a year of recovery. While there was a lot of pain last year, there is one key point that you need to be paying attention to. Each time there was peace in the market last year, Bitcoin began to recover and see its price increase. Several times, the market thought that we might be on the cusp of reigniting the bull market, only to see the next insolvency or black swan event. A year of peace would do wonders not only for Bitcoin’s price but for confidence in the market as well. **Bitcoin Halving Approaching**  Approximately every 4 years the Bitcoin halving takes place, which cuts in half the issuance rate in half. Typically in Bitcoin’s history, this has been the fuel that ignites each bull run. The most recent halving took place in May of 2020, and a few months later the bull run began. It’s likely that we can expect something similar to happen this time as well. The halving will take place sometime in April or May of 2024, but it's likely that the price will rise in the run-up to this event. Bitcoin is becoming more mature and more people are catching on to the cycle. They will want to front-run the halving. I also believe that this halving and the following bull market will be even stronger than the cycle that we most recently experienced. The reason for that is the bull market of 2021–2022 was cut short of expectations. Due to macro events, unforeseen black swan events, and countless insolvencies. Perhaps Bitcoin really was destined to reach a price of $100k-$200k. But the self-inflicted wounds destroyed its potential flight. This leads me to believe that if we see a more “peaceful” time in macro and the market, then Bitcoin will exceed expectations. As always, I remain very excited and optimistic about Bitcoin’s future. These are only a few things to be on the lookout for this year. I expect that Lightning will continue to gain even more adoption and there will be some major announcements made this year at the Bitcoin 2023 Conference. Either way, Bitcoin’s price is a bargain and I’m accumulating as much as I possibly can. ***How about you? What are you excited about for Bitcoin in 2023?*** **Follow me on Medium** **https://medium.com/@johnwege** **Follow me on Twitter** **https://twitter.com/johnwege** As always, thank you for reading! 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