Fakoyejo Olalekan
Bitcoin (BTC) investors lost a whopping $29.45 billion in the early hours of Saturday, after the cryptocurrency crashed by -7.54%, to its lowest price in two years, $18,926.50, as the bears extended their run.
The cryptoasset had closed Friday around $20,471.48, but lost $1,544 in value, as sell off pressure among holders of the digital currency knocked bitcoin further down the downward path.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelBTC has been in the bear’s territory since it hit an all time high of $68,990.90 in November 2021. Year-to-date, the cryptocurrency has experienced -59.13%, depreciating from January 1 opening price of $46,311.74.
Following the crash, the market capitalisation of bitcoin fell to $360.93 billion, below the $390.39 billion it closed the previous day with, losing $29.45 billion. However, the sell off has wiped $541.16 billion off the cap.
The dip being experienced by holders of the cryptocurrency is on the back of inflation soaring in global market, with the United States announcing is 40 year high of 8.6% in May, while that of Nigeria is 17.71%, a 11-month high.
Investors have been scampering for a more effective way to hedge inflation, resulting to the sell off in bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency market loses appeal to traditional assets like Gold, which is 2.81% in the last six months.
Already, American investor, Scott Minerd, has predicted that bitcoin’s bubble burst is yet to hit the floor, projecting that the cryptocurrency will depreciate to as low as $15,000, before BTC finds it feet again.
Minerd, who is the Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of asset management giant, Guggenheim Investments, told Bloomberg in July 2021, that, “I think that there is still more air to come out of this, and ultimately, I think something in the neighborhood of $15,000 is where we’re going to end up.”
