Bitcoin, the best-known cryptocurrency on the market, extends the falls this Monday and has plummeted almost 15% this afternoon to its lowest since December 2020.
According to data from Bloomberg consulted by Efe, bitcoin, which began the session with losses of more than 7%, has been accentuating the fall throughout the day.
A little before 6:00 p.m. in Spain, it plummets almost 15% to $23,250.
According to the Financial Times publication, bitcoin has been affected by the decision of the platform of cryptocurrencies Celsius Network to stop the withdrawal of funds from its customers and prohibit transfers between accounts.
Celsius Network is one of the largest crypto lending platforms in the world and manages some 12 billion dollars in client assets (about 11 billion euros).
Since last Friday, bitcoin has fallen by around 21%.
Likewise, the value of this cryptocurrency is reduced by 50% in the year and by about 67% from the historical maximums that it reached last November, when it touched 69,000 dollars.
Experts explain that in recent weeks cryptocurrencies have been affected by interest rate hikes by the different central banks, which have tightened their monetary policies to control inflation.
IG analyst Sergio Ávila assures that inflation in the US, which rose to 8.6% in May, higher than expected, “causes the market to discount more aggressive increases in interest rates by central banks and puts pressure on the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to further increase its rates.
“Interest rate hikes negatively affect technology, all sectors that have to do with growth and, of course, cryptocurrencieswhich are conditioned in the same way”, points out Ávila.
Since the last increase in interest rates announced by the Fed, on May 4, bitcoin has lost 40.64% of its value.
Since mid-May, bitcoin has remained stable at $30,000, and this after days before it plummeted to its lowest level since December 2020 (around $25,000) after the sharp fall of terraUSD, a “stablecoin” that maintained its parity with the dollar through a complex algorithm linked to luna, an unbacked cryptocurrency.
Ether, the second best-known cryptocurrency in the market, also plummeted this Monday, 16.7% at this time, to $1,229.
