It’s the cryptocurrency’s biggest price drop since February
The price of Bitcoin went down by 10.8% in the 24 hours up to Sunday morning, just days after the cryptocurrency hit a record high.
Bitcoin’s price fell from $61,396 to $54,750, and at one point dropped by more than $7,000 in a single hour to $51,300, before eventually recovering slightly.
On Wednesday the price of one Bitcoin had hit an all-time peak of $64,869.78, as cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase was launched on the stock market.
Coinbase reports that the slip in price for Bitcoin may be as a result of rumours that the U.S. Treasury is planning to charge financial institutions for money laundering using cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin has also started to face more regulatory scrutiny in recent months. On Friday, Turkey’s central bank announced that it would stop accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment from April 30. Insider reports that the bank said the anonymity of digital currencies brings the risk of “non-recoverable” losses.
Meanwhile CNBC has reported that India, one of the world’s largest economies, is set to ban cryptocurrencies and criminalise any involvement with them.
India is about to ban cryptocurrencies, fining anyone trading in the country or even holding such assets. The bill, one of the world's strictest policies against cryptocurrencies, would criminalize any direct involvement with crypto. https://t.co/4AWOSV6nqH pic.twitter.com/e5bjpn9J17
— CNBC (@CNBC) April 18, 2021
Other forms of crypto have seen drops in price over the weekend. Ether, the second-largest coin, dropped in price by 13%. But fear not Doge fans, Elon Musk’s favourite crypto seems to be holding out.
And whilst concerns develop over some aspects of bitcoin, many companies are continuing to embrace it. Xbox and PayPal have begun accepting the cryptocurrency as a form of payment, and some major Wall Street firms such as Morgan Stanley are considering owning stakes in Bitcoin in order to give their richest clients access to the world of crypto.
This latest fluctuation in the market though serves as useful reminder to many about the extreme volatility of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and that they can always fall as quickly as they rise.
