• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Bitcoin records worst daily loss since November

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After what seemed like a fresh start into the year, bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency is back on the downward path, this time hitting a 3.5 week low of $3,503 on Thursday, before ending the day at $3,627, representing a 9.4 per cent loss on the day.

Coming into 2019, bitcoin had broken through $4,000 where it stayed for days prompting some experts to believe it was on the mend.

The entire cryptocurrency market value dropped 13 per cent as many altcoins such as Ethereum, Litecoin, and XRP also took a hit on the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index.

An expert said it is likely that a large transfer of about 40,000 Ether into an exchange an hour before the loss could have triggered it.

“Usually transfer of Ethereum onto an exchange indicate an intent to sell, and if there is a sell-off on one exchange it compounds like dominoes to another because arbitragers will sell immediately on the other exchanges as well,” Timothy Tam, co-founder and CEO of CoinFi, a cryptocurrency research firm in Hong Kong said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Vinny Lingham, CEO of Civickey told Cheddar on Twitter that the market is still trying to find a bottom. Currently there are more traders than buyer because people are trying to get their money to safety.

He disclosed that operators in the market are being forced to tighten their spending in order to continue building products and remain afloat.

Bitcoin was trading at N1,322,034 on the Luno exchange