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The frenzy over bitcoin following the listing of Coinbase shares on Nasdaq last week has quickly fizzled out, with the popular cryptocurrency plunging by approximately 14 percent in 24 hours.
However, in early Monday trading, the world’s largest cryptocurrency recouped most of its losses after its biggest intra-day fall since February.
Prices of the leading cryptocurrency surged to an all-time high of more than $64,000 on April 14, on the eve of the listing of start-up Coinbase, which enables people to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
On Sunday, 7:39 am, the world’s largest cryptocurrency plunged to $53,846.75 from a little over $62,000 on April 17, shedding more than $8,000 in one day, according to CoinMarketCap’s price index.
It was the lowest price recorded since the end of March and the biggest intra-day fall in almost two months.
CoinMarketCap attributed part of the decline to a blackout in China’s Xinjiang region, which had caused almost half of the Bitcoin network to go offline in two days.
“This blackout was due to maintenance after the massive flooding and security issue at power stations in China. [The province] powers a huge chunk of Bitcoin miners. With this blackout, the BTC rate collapsed significantly leading to further price correction,” CoinMarketCap said.
About 74 percent of professional investors polled by Bank of America (BofA) recently had said that bitcoin is a bubble. The cryptocurrency’s value had multiplied in recent months, beating other assets. Some analysts had predicted that the digital currency could rally further to hit as much as $130,000.
(Reporting by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
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