Bitcoin continued to fall on Saturday, weighed down by investors’ lack of appetite for risk: it fell to 18,740 dollars, a drop of 9% compared to the previous day. This is its lowest level since December 13, 2020.
Bitcoin continued to fall on Saturday, weighed down by investors’ lack of appetite for risk: it fell to 18,740 dollars, a fall of 9% compared to the previous day. This is its lowest level since December 13, 2020.
Since its all-time high on November 10, 2021, at $68,991, the digital currency has lost more than 72% of its value. Around 5:50 p.m. Paris time, it stood at 18,941 dollars, a decline of 8% compared to Friday.
Sign that the liquidation continues on this market in full crisis, all the main cryptocurrencies fell back sharply on Saturday. Ether, the second most used digital currency, lost almost 10%.
The behavior of banks in the face of inflation as an explanation
The stock markets plunged this week, worried about the idea that the central banks, the Fed (American Federal Reserve) in the lead, would not be too aggressive in their desire to curb inflation, risking weakening the world economy.
But it is cryptocurrencies that pay the highest price. On Monday, the cryptocurrency market fell below the symbolic cap of 1000 billion dollars. It had risen to 3000 billion last November.
The fall of bitcoin was accelerated by the suspension of withdrawals by two cryptocurrency investment platforms.
Celsius announced a break in withdrawals and transfers on Sunday evening. This company, which managed assets valued at $12 billion in mid-May according to its website, notably offered its users the opportunity to place their “historic” cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and ether, to invest in new virtual currencies.
Babel Finance told clients on Friday that it was suspending all withdrawals because of “unusual pressures on liquidity”.
Job cuts at certain platforms
A brief freeze in bitcoin withdrawals from the world’s largest exchange, Binance, also contributed to the lack of appetite for cryptocurrencies this week.
The Coinbase cryptocurrency platform announced on Tuesday that it would cut 18% of its workforce, or around 1,100 positions.
“It looks like we are entering a recession after an economic boom of more than 10 years,” said the company’s co-founder and chief executive, Brian Armstrong, among the justifications for these massive layoffs.
“A recession could lead to another crypto winter and could last for an extended period,” he added.
In 2021, this still nascent sector had attracted more and more traditional finance players, whose risk appetite was fueled by the ultra-loose policies of central banks around the world.
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