Bitcoin is starting to show signs of stirring after its dramatic tumble over the weekend. Along with other popular digital currencies, such as Ether and XRP, the coin soared along with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s direct listing. But then came a crash.
The leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, dropped around 15 percent on Sunday from a record high of $64,870. Ether and XRP’s prices followed similar paths — although for some reason, Dogecoin, which was started as a joke, has largely held on to the ground it gained during last week’s rally.
Things started to perk up a little for Bitcoin on Monday morning. At 9 a.m. Eastern Time, the digital currency had inched up about 3 percent to $56,885.40 from the same time yesterday. Similarly, XRP was up about 5 percent Monday from the same time the day before, and Ether had risen about 3 percent.
Crypto Twitter, almost rabidly enthusiastic last week, was much more muted after the weekend plunge. Still, many Twitter users did not appear overly concerned about the longer-term prospects.
“Bitcoin fell dramatically over the weekend, but it is at the same price it was only 10 days ago,” one user commented Monday, seemingly shrugging off the drop.
Galaxy Digital founder Michael Novogratz also seemed to suggest on Sunday that the downturn was merely a correction.
“With hindsight it was inevitable,” he tweeted, tacking on two laughing-with-tears emojis. “Markets got too excited around $Coin direct listing. Basis blowing out, coins like $BSV, $XRP and $DOGE pumping. All were signs that the market got too one way. We will be fine in the medium term as institutions coming back into the space.”
But analysts told Bloomberg the price-drop could have been spurred by deeper worries, such as continued concerns in the industry about global regulators cracking down on it. Turkey, on Friday, for instance imposed a new batch of tough restrictions on crypto, and Ripple, the company that developed XRP, has been mired in a legal fight with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Coinbase’s direct listing on Wednesday presaged a new era for crypto, and marks the first of many digital currency companies likely to go public on the months ahead. The cryptocurrency exchange is one of the most popular apps in Apple’s app store. Its number of ratings have also climbed largely in tandem with the price of Bitcoin over the past year, according to Thinknum data.
Meanwhile Dogecoin’s surge was so intense that it caused a temporary crypto trading outage for Robinhood, which came amid an attempt by Massachusetts securities authorities to pull the app’s license in the state. The state has cited concerns in its complaint that included past widespread outages.
Overall, the market value of cryptocurrencies is far above where it was in bubbly times of 2017, despite a prolonged “crypto winter” in 2018. So far, it does not appear that winter is coming again.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online, jobs, social and web traffic, product sales, and app ratings, and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue, and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.