Bitcoin plummeted again. As of 18:10 on January 24, the price of Bitcoin fell below $34,000 per piece, the first time since July last year, and a drop of more than 20% in the past week. This year’s decline is nearly 30%, and it is almost “halved” from the all-time high of $68,928.9 in November 2021.
Analysts pointed out that since the beginning of this year, global regulators have strengthened the supervision of encrypted assets including Bitcoin, and the Fed’s tightening monetary policy expectations have continued to strengthen.
Bitcoin falls below $34,000
According to Coindesk data, on January 23, the price of Bitcoin once fell below $35,000 per piece, hitting a new low since September 2021. As of 20:12 on January 23, the Bitcoin liquidation was $1.7574 million in one hour, $7.4782 million in 4 hours, and $20.0772 million in 12 hours. As of 16:00 on January 24, Bitcoin fell below $35,000/piece again, at $34,892.6/piece. As of 18:10 on January 24, the price of Bitcoin fell below $34,000 per piece.
In fact, Bitcoin slumps are nothing new. At the beginning of this year, Bitcoin hit $43,000 per piece, down 6.16% on the day. From 23:00 on January 20 to 11:00 on January 21 this year, Bitcoin fell from $43,325.2 to $38,465.3, a 12-hour drop of $4,859.9.
At noon on December 4, 2021, Bitcoin also fell below $42,000 for a short time, with a 24-hour drop of more than 20%. As of 20:00 on the same day, a total of 417,000 people had liquidated their positions in the past 24 hours, and the liquidation amount of virtual currency contracts on the entire network reached US$2.584 billion, of which the liquidation amount of Bitcoin in 24 hours exceeded US$1 billion.
Bitcoin prices hit a record high of $68,928.9 in November last year, before falling. Looking at the overall trend of Bitcoin, violent fluctuations in its currency value have become the norm. After breaking through the $60,000 mark in mid-April last year, Bitcoin experienced a deep correction for more than three months, falling below $30,000 at one point.
In the longer term, in 2013, Bitcoin shot up to $1,000, before retreating sharply to $150. In December 2017, the price of Bitcoin rose to nearly $20,000. However, the following year suffered a slump to nearly $3,000. On January 4 last year, Bitcoin also ushered in a sharp decline, dropping to $29,068.63 at 18:29, down 15.4% from the high of $34,366.15 on January 3. According to the data of the Bitcoin Home Network, the entire network has liquidated 1.528 billion US dollars, or about 9.85 billion yuan, in 24 hours, and the number of liquidated positions is as high as 107,935.
Why the plunge?
Why did Bitcoin plummet this time? Some analysts pointed out that on the one hand, global regulators have strengthened their supervision of Bitcoin since the beginning of this year. On January 17, local time, the Spanish National Securities Market Commission required influential individuals and sponsoring companies to report at least 10 days in advance when promoting activities, and warned about the risks of cryptocurrencies, or they would face fines.
Around the same time, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said that DPT (Digital Payment Token) service providers can only conduct marketing or advertising on their own corporate websites, mobile apps or official social media accounts. Subsequently, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) proposed reforms to the rules relating to the sale of high-risk investments to the public in order to address the associated financial risks. The draft reform includes details on how the financial regulator will regulate cryptocurrency advertising.
The Central Bank of Russia said it would propose a ban on cryptocurrency trading and mining, prohibiting financial institutions from investing in cryptocurrencies and related financial instruments, and using Russian financial intermediaries and financial infrastructure for cryptocurrency transactions. In addition, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has made it clear that cryptocurrency exchanges will be the focus of its regulation of digital assets in 2022.