Bitcoin (BTC) has already experienced two strong downturns this week. On Monday, the asset experienced its biggest daily dollar drop in history, but the cryptocurrency quickly recovered. However, it was on Tuesday (23) that the devaluation really materialized. The price of the crypto has lost $ 10,000 in value in the past 24 hours, resulting in more than $ 100 billion in losses to its market value.
Biggest daily drop in history
From $ 58,332 the asset was worth on Sunday, the highest price in its history, it dropped to $ 47,780 on Monday morning. In a matter of less than 24 hours, the cryptocurrency lost more than $ 10,000 in value, setting the biggest daily dollar drop in history, according to the CoinDesk price index.
However, Monday's losses were quickly recovered. By the end of the afternoon of the same day, bitcoin was back to the $ 55,000 level. But the strength of the cryptocurrency remains unstable and yesterday's devaluation only served to materialize the fall that the asset suffers today.
Bitcoin market value falls by $ 100 billion
With the price devaluation, bitcoin's total capitalization has also suffered a severe retraction. Having exceeded $ 1 trillion in market value for the first time in history last Friday, today the cryptocurrency has lost more than $ 100 billion in value, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Elon Musk and Janet Yellen's speeches affect the market
The second factor is the euphoria of the market, the speculation generated by news and events that happen worldwide. This huge drop was specifically driven by two statements by leading figures in the cryptocurrency industry.
The first is Elon Musk, owner of Tesla, which since Friday has been publishing statements not favorable to cryptocurrency. On Friday (19) he said that “bitcoin is almost the same nonsense as a fiat currency”. While over the weekend he responded to a Twitter follower stating that the price of the digital asset “really is high”.
The second news that impacted the price of bitcoin was the speech of Janet Yellen this Monday. "I don't think bitcoin ... is widely used as a transaction mechanism," the US Treasury Secretary told CNBC. “As it is used, I fear that it is usually for illicit financing. It is an extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions, and the amount of energy that is consumed in processing these movements is impressive, ”he said.