PixabayThe price of bitcoin has plummeted massively from its all time high figure of $20,000, according to market data.
Prices fell as low as $14,502 at the start of trading, according to CoinDesk, which is an estimated 27 per cent drop from their all time high of $19,783 as reported on December 17.
We’ve been seeing a steady decline in the cryptocurrency since the peak on Sunday, including a massive drop to $17,000 on Tuesday.
This could be caused by a bunch of factors, though it’s testament to the continued volatility of cryptocurrency when compared to fiat.
PixabayIt’s a tumultuous world in the crypto-sphere, so such a drop may well be followed by incredible gains after everybody’s Christmas money comes in and they start investing?
It seems like a few experts have been prescient in their ditching of the cryptocurrency, including Emil Oldenburg.
Oldenburg, who co-founded Bitcoin.com, dumped his coins just last week saying they were as ‘good as useless’.
Speaking to Swedish tech site Breakit, the tech expert said bitcoin is the ‘most risky investment you can make’ and this drop only seems to support that statement.
He said:
It’s an extremely high risk. I’ve actually sold all my bitcoins recently and switched to bitcoin cash.
It costs a lot to transfer bitcoins to and from the stock exchanges. When I sold my BTC I had to pay $50 and wait 12 hours for the transaction to go through because of this.
He revealed Bitcoin.com had ‘stopped developing new services for the old bitcoin network’ and now primarily focuses mostly on bitcoin cash, which was launched in August.
The old bitcoin network is virtually unusable. It’s at bitcoin cash that the solutions are, that’s where I see a future.
Oldenburg claims the high transaction fees and delays in transactions being approved are the reasons for him ducking out of the currency.
In January, the currency cost approximately $1,000 per coin. Within 12 months they now stand at a whopping $18,000.
An anonymous expert, who has made a fortune in the coin and is now donating a huge chunk of their wealth to worthy charities, recently warned against putting money in Bitcoin for a long-term investment.
PxhereThey told UNILAD:
I can’t directly answer [which coin to invest in], but I want to caution against investing without understanding the risks. Bitcoin has crashed by almost 90% before and it is bound to crash again.
Cryptocurrency is not a piñata of free growth. I believe we are in a bubble and many people who have invested recently (or invest from now on, at these prices), will be facing substantial losses.
It seems these predictions may well be correct, but as always with cryptocurrencies, it’s incredibly difficult to work out just what’s around the corner.
