Bitcoin Down $3K on 15th Anniversary Genesis Day
03 Jan, 2024 ● Coin news
On the 15th anniversary of its "genesis" day, the original cryptocurrency Bitcoin saw abrupt, massive, and sharp outflows that erased the majority of its gains over the previous 30 days.
According to CoinGecko data, Bitcoin fell below $42,000 on January 3 and lost at least $3,000 in value in a matter of two hours.
As of the time of writing, Bitcoin's intraday high of $45,600 was recorded on CoinMarketCap, but it fell as low as $40,700.
According to CoinGecko data, as of this writing, the price of Bitcoin is $42,608, down almost 6% from the previous day.
The cryptocurrency has barely increased over the last 30 days and is down 1.5% over the last 14 days.
The sharp decline in the value of Bitcoin occurred when Matrixport, a digital financial services platform, withdrew its earlier prediction that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would possibly approve the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January 2024.
On January 1, Matrixport took to X (previously Twitter) to declare his optimism that factors such as a "imminent Bitcoin spot ETF approval" would propel Bitcoin to $50,000. The company added that, contrary to what most traders had anticipated, a potential spot Bitcoin ETF approval could be announced even earlier on January 8, 9, or 10.
Matrixport reversed course and updated its forecast on January 2, stating that the SEC will reject all Bitcoin spot ETF applications in January and that spot Bitcoin ETF approvals won't occur before Q2 of this year, just one day after it released a forecast on potential approvals in 2024.
Following Matrixport's contentious predictions, the community reacted swiftly, with many accusing the company of manipulating the price of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin investor Alistair Milne observed that Jihan Wu, a Chinese billionaire cryptocurrency entrepreneur and co-founder of Bitmain, founded Matrixport.
Wu is a well-known advocate of Bitcoin Cash, a 2017 hard fork of Bitcoin, according to industry analyst James Van Straten.
“If anyone believes anything that Matrixport publishes, I have a bridge to sell to you,” the analyst stated.
Major spot watchers of the Bitcoin ETF have also responded to the announcement. Eric Balchunas, a Bloomberg ETF analyst, posted on X, saying, "We have heard nothing to indicate anything but approval but I want to give the guy the benefit of the doubt so I'm asking if he has any sources or if he just speculating."
Balchunas later clarified, saying, "To be clear: not saying rejection outright impossible, but we've heard nothing to indicate that."
Sources:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-plummets-15th-genesis-day
https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/
https://x.com/realMatrixport/status/1742020661047140702
https://www.matrixport.com/institutions/research/daily-insights/811
https://www.matrixport.com/institutions/research/matrix-on-target/813
https://x.com/alistairmilne/status/1742536770481275251
https://x.com/EricBalchunas/status/1742539265001640227
