After ending 2023 on a high, crypto investors will be watching central bank interest rates and a U.S. regulatory decision on new bitcoin products as they decide how to place their bets next year.

Cryptocurrencies staged a recovery this year after a torrid 2022 in which a market meltdown and a string of scandals, including the collapse of FTX and fraud charges against its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, undermined the credibility of the industry.

The price of bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency and the market's chief barometer, has more than doubled this year, reaching a 20-month high in November of $42,000 per token. As of Friday, 2023 was its best year since 2020 in terms of percentage gains.

The market has been buoyed by expectations that cooling inflation will allow central banks globally to forgo further rate hikes and start easing next year, making risk assets more attractive. A long-anticipated move by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) to approve a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has also been a boost.

Those themes, along with bitcoin's expected April "halving" - a process that reduces token supply - will continue to be positives for the market next year, said analysts, although some cautioned the market is unlikely to rescale its 2021 record highs.