Bitcoin Falls Below $19,000, But Recovers Slightly Friday

There continue to be worrying signs for the cryptocurrency market after a significant fall in the value of Bitcoin this week.

On Thursday evening, the largest and most well known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, fell to a low of $18,630.99

This value is now down over 60 percent from the year’s high of $48,234 on 28 March.

Slight recovery

And on Friday morning the value of Bitcoin had recovered somewhat and is trading at the $19,399.39 mark.

This is still another decline from May, when the value of Bitcoin had dropped below $32,000 (£25,900).

That meant the largest cryptocurrency was down more than 50 percent from its high of $67,802.30 in November 2021.

Bitcoin accounts for about one-third of the total cryptocurrency market and has a market capitalisation of approximately $640bn.

This week Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, had also dropped 7.5 percent to $1,016.08 on Thursday, losing $82.38 from its previous close.

On Friday morning Ether is trading at $1,057.70.

Crypto pressures

Both digital assets have struggled since US based Celsius Network last month said it would suspend withdrawals and transfers.

That decision caused the value of the global cryptocurrency market to fall below $1 trillion (£810m) for the first time since January 2021.

Another negative impact on the value of Bitcoin and other crypto assets has been the spectacular collapse of so-called stablecoin TerraUSD in May.

In mid May the organisation founded to maintain the stability of TerraUSD said it had spent more than $2 billion (£2bn) of Bitcoin reserves in a failed attempt to maintain the so-called stablecoin’s 1:1 peg to the US dollar.

The Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) said at the time that this process wiped out virtually all of its Bitcoin reserves.

Later that same month, a South Korean crypto investor was arrested after visiting the Seoul home of Do Kwon, creator of the TerraUSD “stablecoin”.

“Chancers”, a social media personality who conducts streams on cryptocurrency-related topics, is currently under investigation by police after ringing the doorbell of Kwon’s condominium and speaking with his wife.

He expressed regret for the intrusion, according to local media, but called for Kwon to appear in public and apologise to investors.

But crypto assets are generally under pressure this year, after central banks in countries including the US, UK and Australia raised interest rates in an effort to combat inflation.

Investors also fear the economic effects of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.