After the cryptocurrency prices skyrocket this week amid the hype leading to Coinbase direct registration, the market took a nosedive this weekend. Bitcoin price fell about 14% in 24 hours, from $ 61,530 to $ 52,829, the token’s biggest one-day drop since February, before rebounding slightly, according to the cryptoasset price monitoring site CoinMarketCap.
The prices of other popular cryptocurrencies have plunged as well. Ether, which is second after Bitcoin, saw its prices are falling in 24 hours by approximately 17%, from $ 2,417 to $ 2,011. By Sunday night, those tokens had recouped their losses somewhat, with Bitcoin and Ether dropping around 9% and 8% respectively in the past 24 hours. During this so-called flash crash, cryptocurrency liquidations totaled roughly $ 10 billion, according to data from crypto industry tracker Bybt.
Oddly enough, among the 10 most popular cryptocurrencies, the only coin that appreciated in value over the weekend was Dogecoin, a memes-based token that started out as a joke but has recently grown in popularity. Last week the price of Dogecoin exploded over 400%, exceeding 40 cents for the first time. And while it’s unlikely to make anyone rich anytime soon, demand for the token has exploded, leading Robinhood to crash several times this week as greedy investors flooded the platform, said the online stock market in a blog post on Friday.
This flash crash comes just days after Bitcoin prices hit a record nearly $ 65,000. The exact cause remains uncertain, but analysts have so far come up with a few theories. Bitcoin’s value had already weakened a bit on Friday after Turkey’s central bank banned the use of digital assets for purchases, citing “irreparable” damage and transaction risks, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, Xinjian region of China, which is home to much of the world’s bitcoin mining operations, is also believed to have vanished over the weekend due to government-issued power cuts to address security concerns and flood damage, causing bitcoin’s hash rate to drop nearly 50%, according to Forbes. Around the same time, unfounded rumors spread Twitter claiming that the US Treasury is planning a crackdown on money laundering schemes using digital assets.
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Of course, it could also be the cryptocurrency market descending from its peak after a furious week of trading that pushed the value of all coins past $ 2.25 trillion, Bloomberg Reports. With Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, released to the public on Wednesday, this has fueled increased demand for all things crypto.
“The crypto world is waking up with a bit of a headache today,” said Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of crypto lender Nexo, in an interview with Bloomberg at Sunday. “Dogecoin’s 100% Friday rally was a ‘rush party’, following the Bitcoin record and Coinbase listing earlier in the week. Euphoria was in the air. And generally in the crypto world, there is a price to be paid when this happens. “
