Bitcoin price crashed on Saturday, hitting a seven-week low after a new variant of coronavirus had emerged in South Africa. The world’s largest cryptocurrency dropped over 6 per cent in the last 24 hours to $54,425.11, according to CoinMarketCap. The sudden tumble in the cryptocurrency world brought bitcoin to the lowest level since October. Bitcoin sank over 20 per cent from an all-time high of nearly $69,000.
Other cryptocurrencies also tanked on Friday as new Covid-19 variant scare spooked the investors. Ether, the second cryptocurrency, fell nearly 7 per cent to $4,125.86, according to CoinMarketCap. Binance Coin slumped 5.37 per cent to $592.32 while Solana tanked 5.19 per cent to $195.36.
A new variant detected in the southern Africa prompted the liquidations across the markets this week. European stocks fell. Dow tumbles 900 points for worst day of year while S&P 500 dropped 2 per cent on November 26.
“Bitcoin and most major altcoins seem to be losing their bullish momentum, which might signal that prices might continue to erode. We have seen most of the major assets continue to be pinned below their respective overhead resistances, which indicates that bears are selling aggressively the moment a rally sets in. Surprisingly, we continue to see strong outflows amongst exchanges, and the reserves are at their lowest levels. The bulls are attempting to turn the tide around $55,000 but the bears are relentless,” ZebPay Trade desk said earlier this week.
“For Bitcoin, Support 1 at $55,000, Support 2 at $53,000, Resistance 1 at $62,000 and Resistance 2 at $69,000,” it added.
In India, the cryptocurrency world turned red earlier this week with the news that the central government would introduce a Cryptocurrency Bill for consideration and passing in the winter session of Parliament.
Bitcoin, Ether and other cryptocurrencies plunged on Indian exchanges into a discount of up to 25 per cent compared to their global peers amid heavy panic-selling by the investors. ‘The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021’, aimed to create a facilitative framework for creation of the official digital currency to be issued by the RBI. It also sought to prohibit all private cryptocurrencies in India, barring few exceptions. The stock exchanges and industry experts urged the to remain calm and not arrive at a rushed conclusion.
“The industry is hopeful for a positive policy from the govt due to several factors, a negative policy will create a massive brain drain, there are multiple Indian entrepreneurs who are building in Web 3 and there are a lot of users of these platforms, as well. One needs to understand that this policy is not going to just affect the exchanges but also platforms that are providing L2 solutions or other solutions working on bridging the gap between defi and the real world.India cannot be left behind when such technological disruption is taking place, one cannot discourage crypto and encourage innovation via blockchain as both are two sides to a coin,” said Tarusha Mittal, member of blockchain and crypto assets council (BACC) and COO & co-founder, OroPocket and UniFarm.
“There is a higher probability that crypto resources might be concurred in a venture resource class, which can be exchanged like a product,” opined Manoj Dalmia, CEO, Proassetz exchange.
Read all the Latest Business News here