Bitcoin has crashed. There’s no pleasant way of saying it. At the time of writing, the world’s number one cryptocurrency by market cap has fallen into the low $6,000 range for the first time in virtually ten months following increased fear and panic from the coronavirus.
Bitcoin Is Dropping Fast
Following news that President Donald Trump has invoked further travel bans to ensure Americans are not exposed any further, global markets everywhere tanked, with the Dow Jones falling another 2,000 points and hitting its worst trading day in more than 30 years.
In an official address to the nation, President Trump announced:
To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days. [America’s] economic prosperity gives us flexibility, reserves and resources to handle any threat that comes our way. This is not a financial crisis. This is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world.
Crypto appears to have been hit the hardest. Bitcoin is trading at its lowest point since May of 2019, while major altcoin competitors such as Ethereum, bitcoin cash, Ripple’s XRP and Litecoin also fell by anywhere between 20 and 30 percent.
Ethereum – which was trading in the mid-$190 range yesterday – fell to $134 during the early morning hours, though it later recovered somewhat and spiked back to $140. Bitcoin cash fell below the $200 mark and was trading for as low as $174, while Ripple fell to approximately 16 cents per token. Litecoin was also trading at a low of around $34 during the morning.
Charles Hayter, CEO and founder of Crypto Compare, explained in an interview:
There has been a general move to cash, and bitcoin has been hit particularly hard. We are seeing more than 11,000 trades per second across the [cryptocurrency] ecosystem, with blockchain data showing some intense movements across the on-chain environment. Clearly, the macroeconomic backdrop of fear and panic is driving this move.
Kiana Danial, CEO of Invest Diva, explains that bitcoin’s “safe haven” status has been tested heavily as of late, though it’s unfair to simply say it’s failed this test. She comments that the crisis is larger than anyone could have anticipated and says that gold is not even performing well.
Not Even Gold Is Surviving the Turmoil
She comments:
A quick look at gold prices shows that even gold has not been able to live up to its safe-haven standards, as it has dropped dramatically over the past few days. This suggests that bitcoin has been caught in the coronavirus global turmoil, along with all other assets where investors are no longer looking to invest at all and prefer to hold cash in case of a doomsday scenario.
