The collapse in the cryptocurrency market that has been experienced this week, which keeps bitcoin with a drop of more than 50% from highs, has a slight respite this Friday and increases are recorded. Of course, they do not serve to erase the bleeding of the last days, marked by the collapse of terraUSD and luna.
Bitcoin, the largest-cap cryptocurrency, was up 10% in the last 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap records. Ethereum rebounded the same, with somewhat higher figures in cardano (30%), solana (17%) or polkadot (29%). Among the memecoins, those with the highest volatility and that have suffered a severe punishment in the week, dogecoin rises 18% and shiba inu 25%.
All, in any case, are recorded strong falls if you look at the weekly evolution. The 15% that bitcoin loses -it will be its seventh week in a row of falls-, the 25% of ethereum or the 30% of litecoin, serve as an example of the magnitude of the puncture. “I don’t think the worst is over,” Scottie Siu, chief investment officer at Axion Global Asset Management, a Hong Kong firm that runs a cryptocurrency index fund, told Reuters. “There will be more falls in the coming days,” he ventured.
The factor that has catapulted sales is the fall of several stablecoins, more stable alternatives and backed by more traditional values such as currencies, which have lost the stability that was assumed for them and erased more than 90% of their value in one day. “This week will probably go down in history as one of the worst weeks in crypto history,” summarized Alejandro Zala, head of Bitpanda in Spain.
Crypto assets have also been dragged down by the widespread sell-off in risky assets, due to concerns about high inflation and interest rate hikes. “What is punished when financial conditions tighten? Anything with a high valuation and an uncertain or non-existent income stream”, analyzed Brian Nick, of Nuveen, in Bloomberg. “And cryptocurrencies have arguably high valuations and no income stream,” he added.
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