Crypto Investor On Bitcoin: “I Didn’t Sleep Well Last Night”
“Bitcoin [is] no longer boring,” declared Bloomberg analysts/journalists Vildana Hajric and Olga Kharif in a recent piece on the crypto market. And, taking a look at the current state of cryptocurrency prices, it would appear that this is the case… unfortunately.
As reported by Ethereum World News on multiple occasions in recent days, BTC fell hard on Wednesday, quickly moving under the levels of support at $6,000 and $5,800 due to a number of purported catalysts and an influx of selling pressure. Many analysts and industry insiders drew attention to the Bitcoin Cash hard fork as a likely cause for this downtrend, while others pointed to an institutional sell-off.
Regardless, the strong move downward, which saw the aggregate value of all crypto assets take a $25 billion haircut, happened, no matter the cause.
Speaking on the unfortunate crash, Travis Kling, the founder of the recently-launched crypto-centric hedge fund Ikigai, told Bloomberg:
I didn’t sleep well last night… There’s a small chance that, it’s difficult to estimate, that something really bad could happen related to Bitcoin Cash that could then impact the entire crypto market.
Mike McGlone, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, echoed Kling’s concerns, drawing attention to the hard fork’s assumed negative effect on this nascent market. He explained that the market “got a bit too offsides” with speculative longs, subsequently noting that crypto assets remain in an “enduring bear market.”
Another analyst backed up McGlone’s call for the extended duration of 2018’s bear market, predicting that BTC will stall under $1,500, a 70% drop from current levels, or more than 90% decline from the asset’s all-time high established in late-2017.
And for now, unfortunately, their bearish predictions may hold credence, as cryptocurrencies have yet to show any signs of a recovery or trend reversal, even though substantial levels of volume are still present.
At the time of writing, BTC is valued at $5,547 a pop, posting a 0.24% gain in the past 24 hours. However, altcoins, save for XRP and Stellar Lumens (XLM), are having it much worse. A majority of this market’s leading altcoins, like BCH, LTC, DASH, and BNB, are posting losses of more than 1%.
Despite Crash, Bitcoin (BTC) Still Has A Tailwind
However, arguably, there are still a number of tailwinds for Bitcoin and crypto assets in general. Venezuela’s fiscal situation, for one, recently got a whole lot worse as the Bolivar’s inflation reportedly hit 150,000%, even though regulators made moves (like the launch of the government-issued Petro Dollar) to stem rampant currency devaluation, as reported by Ethereum World News.
According to Bloomberg’s Cafe Con Leche Index, a cup of coffee now costs 120 bolivars, with estimates and forecasts indicating that such an item will go four quadruple-digits in due time. While cryptocurrency adoption within the country isn’t to be scoffed at, like always, there’s still a ways to go. But, with this multi-year bout of runaway hyperinflation, it would be logical to assume that Venezuelans will seek financial solace in decentralized, anti-government, and uncensorable assets like Bitcoin.
Title Image Courtesy of Andre Francois via Unsplash
