“2022 was probably one of the most volatile years many new investors experienced. Personally, it was my first real bear market. We saw many established projects like Luna, Vauld, Celsius, Voyager, FTX, go down. The list seems endless,” she said.
Most Indian crypto investors like Verma see-sawed between hope and despair in a turbulent year as they dealt with multiple bankruptcies, collapses and persistent market volatility.
After a breakout year in 2021 when a record number of Indians hitched on to the crypto bandwagon, 2022 saw most of their portfolios slide into the red as crypto currencies crashed to two-year lows.
As prices dipped, the government in February announced a 30% tax on all profits derived from trading in cryptocurrencies, along with a 1% levy on every transaction. In one fell swoop, the move choked the India crypto ecosystem comprising investors, traders as well as exchanges.
The market mood shifted from a confident WAGMI (“We’re all going to make it”) to a pessimistic NGMI (“Not going to make it”).
Mirroring the 2018 crypto winter, 2022 saw the value of major cryptocurrencies fall sharply.
Bitcoin, the world’s most dominant cryptocurrency, has handed back all its gains accrued since September. As of 5 pm on December 31, Bitcoin had dropped 64.2% to $16,574, compared to the year-ago period. Ethereum had crashed 67.4% to $1,198.4, Binance Coin by 52% to $246.14, Ripple by 58.6% to $0.3439 and Solana had tumbled about 94% to $9.890.
Overall, the global crypto market has gone from $2.2 trillion at the start of 2022 to $796 million.
