Cryptocurrency, Fear Dominates the Market

Bitcoin Halved, Fear of Collapse Below $30,000
Falls Below 40 Million Won Domestically

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondents Baek Jong-min and Gong Byung-sun] The cryptocurrency Bitcoin has once again shown a dizzying volatility, dropping by as much as 50% from its peak. There are growing concerns about further declines if the psychological support level of $30,000 is breached.

According to cryptocurrency price tracker Coin Metrics on the 23rd (local time), Bitcoin recorded $31,772 at 12:29 PM Eastern Time. The decline rate reached 16%.

Bitcoin had maintained the $38,000 range following China's authorities' crackdown policies on trading and mining, as well as the U.S. Treasury Department's mandatory reporting requirement for transactions over $10,000, but it failed to overcome the weekend hurdle. On the same day, cryptocurrency media outlet Decrypt reported that cryptocurrency exchanges such as OKEx and Huobi, which originated in China and moved overseas, were blocking Chinese customers. Decrypt explained that these changes in the exchanges occurred after warnings from Chinese authorities and led the price decline that day. However, Bitcoin later showed a rebound, rising back to the $35,000 range.

In the domestic market, Bitcoin briefly fell below 40 million KRW. According to the Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, it dropped to 39.33 million KRW at 1:39 AM on the 24th. This is a return to the price level recorded on February 3rd.

Altcoins showed even larger declines. At the same time, Sandbox fell 37.04% to 363 KRW. Many other altcoins, including Humanscape and Loom Network, also showed declines in the 20% range. Ethereum fell relatively less, dropping 10.33% to 2.61 million KRW.

As a result, the size of the cryptocurrency market also shrank. According to cryptocurrency market data site CoinMarketCap, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization on that day was $1.3216 trillion (approximately 1,490 trillion KRW). This is nearly half of the all-time high of $2.5468 trillion recorded on the 12th. Bitcoin's market cap, which had surpassed $1 trillion on the 11th, also decreased to about $700 billion.

Concerns about Bitcoin's volatility continue. Amy Wu Silverman, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said, "Many people are surprised by Bitcoin's volatility."

Robert Shiller, Nobel laureate in economics and professor at Yale University, stated in an interview with CNBC, "Bitcoin is a very psychological market. Its value is very ambiguous and moves more by narrative than reality." Professor Shiller also introduced that he considered purchasing Bitcoin but ultimately did not.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.