According to Coindesk, Bitcoin and other top 10 coins by market capitalization fell 30% from their peak, ending the day on December 22 at $12,753 USD, which amounts to $6,590 USD.
Bitcoin drops 30% as Wall Street prepares to trade digital gold
Goldman Sachs is creating a trading platform for digital assets and plans to launch it by the end of June, if not earlier, according to Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources. Exchanges in Chicago debuted Bitcoin futures this month, providing securities to significant traders who were blocked from the market due to regulatory reasons, making it an easy way to participate.
Finding the reasons for Bitcoin’s recent decline is pointless, says Yale University economics professor Robert Shiller, who states that “rational valuation” of Bitcoin’s worth is impossible. However, let’s look at Bitcoin’s growth chart and see that this is not the first fall of a digital currency, and therefore not the last.
If Wall Street considers Bitcoin as just another investment asset, it will trigger an increase in the currency’s value due to higher demand and new players entering the cryptocurrency market. At the same time, exchanges where Bitcoin is traded are causing the price to fall. Coinbase, a strong and well-funded US platform for digital asset trading, announced this week that it is investigating insider trading on its platform. Another exchange in South Korea filed for bankruptcy after hackers stole reserves – these events do not strengthen the reputation of digital currency.
Whatever happens, it remains unknown how agile Wall Street will be to participate in the rapidly changing cryptocurrency market – and how long it will take to persuade government watchdogs and clients to support the new financial initiative. By the time financial institutions get on board, in this unpredictable and fast-evolving world of digital assets, cryptocurrency may evolve into something new.
