INTERNATIONAL – The great crypto crash of 2018 plunged deeper over the weekend.
Bitcoin slid another 4.5 percent to $3 635 (R50 200) at midnight Sunday in New York, according to Bitstamp. It recouped most of the losses by 7:50am but remains in the red. It’s lost 33 percent in the past week and 75 percent this year.
Cryptocurrencies just had their worst week ever, and Bitcoin is 82 percent below its high of $19 666 almost a year ago. Ripple declined 5.3 percent to 35 cents, and is about 90 percent below its peak.
After an epic rally last year that exceeded many of history’s most notorious bubbles, digital currencies have become mired in an almost $700 billion rout that shows few signs of abating. Many of the concerns that sparked the 2018 retreat – including increased regulatory scrutiny, community infighting and exchange snafus – have only intensified this week.
Even after the steep losses, Oanda’s Stephen Innes has yet to see strong evidence of a capitulation that would signal a market bottom.
“There’s still a lot of people in this game,” Innes, head of trading for the Asia Pacific at Oanda, said by phone from Singapore last week. “If we start to see a run down toward $3 000, this thing is going to be a monster. People will be running for the exits.”
Innes said his base-case forecast is for Bitcoin, which turns 10 this year, to trade between $3 500 and $6 500 in the short term, with the potential to fall to $2 500 by January.
But Bitcoin isn’t dead yet. Ohio is set to become the first state to accept the digital currency for tax bills, the Wall Street Journal reported. Beginning this week, Ohio businesses can register at OhioCrypto.com to pay the wide range of sales taxes, the newspaper said, citing state Treasurer Josh Mandel.