After what has arguably been one of the strongest runs in years, bitcoin – the world’s number one digital currency by market cap – has taken a serious turn for the worse and fallen below the $30,000 mark. At the time of writing, the currency is trading for approximately $29,500.
Bitcoin Falls Below $30K
Between April of 2020 and April of 2021, the digital currency marked a new point in trading. Bitcoin started out trading in the $6,000 range after briefly falling below $4,000 per unit when the coronavirus pandemic first hit. However, within a month, things were looking much better for the currency and by the time April of last year rang around, bitcoin was in the $8,000 range. From there, things began looking up and about 12 months later, the currency had grown by eight times this price and was trading at a new all-time high of approximately $64,000 per unit.
However, these last two months have been very harsh for the world’s biggest digital currency. It has faced strong opposition from figures like Elon Musk, who have voiced concerns over the mining process that comes with it, while also experiencing newfound negative attention from countries like China, who seem to just want it over and done with.
The country is saying that it will not be permitting any more mining operations within its borders, and this has caused many price drops in the past few weeks. All the China-based bitcoin mining companies that once called the nation home now have just a few short months to pack up and find somewhere else to station themselves.
Arguably, the most damage caused to bitcoin came by way of Elon Musk, the South African entrepreneur behind large companies such as SpaceX and Tesla. The latter was initially going to allow bitcoin payments for goods and services, though this decision was quickly rescinded after Elon Musk felt that the mining process gave way to irreversible damage to the planet’s environment. He has since backed off a bit and says that if miners are able to utilize at least 50 percent clean energy for their operations, he will allow BTC payments once again.
It May Take a While for the Coin to Recover
Still, it may be a while before miners are able to adhere to these “rules,” and with so many leaving China – which presently houses anywhere between 65 and 75 percent of the world’s operations – we are all in for a heavy series of displacements in the coming weeks.
All this has finally taken a huge toll on bitcoin, which for the longest time was trading in the mid to high $30,000 range, but now the currency has finally cracked under pressure, and we are experiencing dips like what was witnessed in 2018, suggesting that bitcoin’s history has not changed much and that it can only experience heavy bullish behavior for so long.
