{"id":1522650,"date":"2022-06-19T07:50:07","date_gmt":"2022-06-19T11:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1522650"},"modified":"2022-06-19T07:50:09","modified_gmt":"2022-06-19T11:50:09","slug":"bitcoin-drops-below-18k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bitcoin-drops-below-18k\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin Drops Below $18k"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">8<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbitcoin-drops-below-18k%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1522650&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"PageBuilder-col-full PageBuilder-col PageBuilder-article\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"PageBuilder-col-full PageBuilder-col PageBuilder-article\">\n<header id=\"SpecialReportArticle-PageHeaderWithTuneInText-2\" class=\"PageHeaderWithTuneInText-container PageHeaderWithTuneInText-isSpecialReport\" data-test=\"pageHeaderWithTuneInText-0\" data-analytics=\"SpecialReportArticle-pageHeaderWithTuneInText-2-0\">\n<div class=\"PageHeaderWithTuneInText-main\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/cryptoworld\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/image.cnbcfm.com\/api\/v1\/image\/107010381-1644353263955-CRYPTO_WORLD_LANDER_GREY_TO_BLUE.png?v=1644353275&#038;h=80&#038;ffmt=webp\" class=\"PageHeaderWithTuneInText-logoImg HeaderImage-regularImage\" alt=\"Crypto World\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"PageHeaderWithTuneInText-divider\">\n<div class=\"PageHeaderWithTuneInText-tuneInText\">Watch Daily: Monday &#8211; Friday, 3 PM ET<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"PageBuilder-col-full PageBuilder-col PageBuilder-article\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"PageBuilder-col-9 PageBuilder-col PageBuilder-article\">\n<div class=\"RenderKeyPoints-keyPoints\" id=\"SpecialReportArticle-KeyPoints-5\" data-test=\"keyPoints-1\" data-analytics=\"SpecialReportArticle-keyPoints-5-1\">\n<div class=\"RenderKeyPoints-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"RenderKeyPoints-list\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<ul>\n<li>Bitcoin fell to about $17,749, and ether fell to about $897 on Saturday afternoon, as the sell-off in the crypto market accelerates.<\/li>\n<li>Bitcoin bounced back to around $18,955 and ether was trading at about $955 just after 8 p.m. ET.<\/li>\n<li>Bitcoin peaked at $68,789.63 in November.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ArticleBody-articleBody\" id=\"SpecialReportArticle-ArticleBody-6\" data-module=\"ArticleBody\" data-test=\"articleBody-2\" data-analytics=\"SpecialReportArticle-articleBody-6-2\">\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/BTC.CB=\">Bitcoin<\/a> plunged to about $17,749 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/ETH=\">ether<\/a> fell to about $897 at around 4:15 E.T. on Saturday afternoon, as the sell-off in the crypto market accelerates. The world&#8217;s two most popular cryptocurrencies are down more than 35% in the past week, as both breach symbolic price barriers.<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin bounced back to around $18,955 and ether was trading at about $995 just after 8 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n<p>The carnage in the crypto market is partly caused by pressure from macroeconomic forces, including spiraling inflation and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/06\/15\/fed-hikes-its-benchmark-interest-rate-by-three-quarters-of-a-point-the-biggest-increase-since-1994.html\">succession of Fed rate hikes<\/a>. We have also seen these blue chip cryptos track equities lower. It doesn&#8217;t help that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/06\/13\/blockfi-cuts-20percent-of-its-staff-as-bitcoin-plunges.html\">crypto firms are laying off large swaths of employees<\/a>, and some of the most popular names in the industry are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/06\/13\/the-crypto-industry-just-had-one-of-its-worst-days-ever.html\">facing solvency meltdowns<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Bitcoin peaked at $68,789.63 in November. Ether peaked at $4,891.70 that same month. Bitcoin last traded this low around December 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s how we got here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\">Monday<\/h2>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-107074612\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbedCaption\">Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky.<\/div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbedCredit\">Piaras \u00d3 M\u00eddheach | Sportsfile for Web Summit | Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>The week started with crypto prices plummeting, and bitcoin falling as much as 17% at one point in the day. It seemed like the crypto winter was here.<\/p>\n<p>In the chaos, Celsius, a major crypto staking and lending firm, shocked the market when it announced that\u00a0all withdrawals, swaps and transfers between accounts have been paused due to &#8220;extreme market conditions.&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/p\/a-memo-to-the-celsius-community-59532a06ecc6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In a memo<\/a>\u00a0addressed to the Celsius Community, the platform also said the move was designed to &#8220;stabilize liquidity and operations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Celsius effectively locked up\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/06\/13\/crypto-lender-celsius-pauses-withdrawals-bitcoin-slides.html\">its $12 billion in crypto assets under management<\/a>, raising concerns about the platform&#8217;s solvency. The news rippled across the crypto industry, reminding some of what happened in May, when a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/05\/28\/60-billion-terra-washout-not-cryptos-bear-stearns-moment-regulators.html\">failed U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin project lost $60 billion in value<\/a>\u00a0and dragged the wider crypto industry down with it.<\/p>\n<p>Celsius was known for offering users a yield of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/celsius.network\/earn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">up to 18.63%<\/a>\u00a0on their deposits. It&#8217;s like a product a bank would offer, except with none of the regulatory safeguards.<\/p>\n<p>Those crazy high yields were what eventually came under scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This risk certainly seems like it&#8217;s just the beginning,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/video\/2022\/06\/13\/investors-starting-to-see-cracks-in-crypto-yield-pools-says-needhams-john-todaro.html\">said John Todaro<\/a>, Needham&#8217;s vice president of crypto assets and blockchain research.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What I would say is on the decentralized side \u2014 a lot of these DeFi protocols, a lot of those positions are over collateralized, so you shouldn&#8217;t quite see the underfunding situation that could happen with centralized borrowers and lenders. But that being said, you could still see a lot of liquidations with that collateral being sold off on DeFi protocols,&#8221; continued Todaro.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\">Tuesday<\/h2>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-106868180\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbedCaption\">People watch as the logo for Coinbase Global Inc, the biggest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, is displayed on the Nasdaq MarketSite jumbotron at Times Square in New York, U.S., April 14, 2021.<\/div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbedCredit\">Shannon Stapleton | Reuters<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Crypto markets appeared to stabilize on Tuesday, with bitcoin hovering at around $22,000 and ether at around $1,100.<\/p>\n<p>Investors were assessing the fallout of Celsius, and meanwhile, another crypto firm joined a growing list of companies cutting staff to try to shore up profits.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/COIN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Coinbase<\/a> announced it was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/06\/14\/coinbase-lays-off-18percent-as-execs-prepare-for-recession-crypto-winter.html\">laying off nearly a fifth of its workforce<\/a> due to crypto volatility. The company had previously cut spending and even rescinded job offers in the hopes of stabilizing its business.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We had the recent inflation report that came out that I think surprised many folks,&#8221; explained President and Chief Operating Officer Emilie Choi.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve had Jamie Dimon and others talk about an upcoming economic hurricane and so given what&#8217;s happening in the economy, it feels like the most prudent thing to do right now,&#8221; continued Choi.<\/p>\n<p>Crypto companies across the board are looking for ways to cut costs, as investors rotate out of the riskiest assets, pulling down trading volumes.<\/p>\n<p>Crypto.com recently\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kris\/status\/1535431489315213312?s=20&#038;t=3BZXgsTdw879RnyrnFenyw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced a staff reduction of 260 people<\/a>, as did Gemini, which said it would\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/06\/02\/winklevoss-twins-gemini-citting-10percent-says-crypto-winter-is-here.html\">lay off 10% of its workforce<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 a first for the U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange and custodian.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\">Wednesday<\/h2>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-107051661\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbedCaption\">Michael Saylor, chairman and chief executive officer of MicroStrategy, first got into bitcoin in 2020, when he decided to start adding the cryptocurrency to MicroStrategy&#8217;s balance sheet as part of an unorthodox treasury management strategy.<\/div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbedCredit\">Eva Marie Uzcategui | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/MSTR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MicroStrategy<\/a> CEO Michael Saylor appeared on CNBC Wednesday morning to discuss concerns around his firm, which has made a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/06\/14\/bitcoin-plunge-spells-trouble-for-michael-saylors-microstrategy.html\">$4 billion bet on bitcoin<\/a>. Saylor has said\u00a0the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/04\/21\/bitcoin-spot-etf-michael-saylor-says-investing-in-microstrategy-is-closest-youll-get.html\">company doubles as the first and only bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund in the U.S.<\/a>, so investing in MicroStrategy is the closest you&#8217;ll get to a bitcoin spot ETF.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/07\/30\/microstrategy-ceo-defends-bitcoin-buys-compares-it-to-investing-early-in-facebook.html\">MicroStrategy has used company debt to purchase bitcoin<\/a>, and in March, Saylor decided to take another step toward normalizing bitcoin-backed finance when he\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.microstrategy.com\/en\/investor-relations\/press\/silvergate-bank-issues-205-m-loan-to-macrostrategy-collateralized-by-bitcoin_03-29-2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">borrowed $205 million using his bitcoin as collateral<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 to then buy more of the cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have $5 billion in collateral. We borrowed $200 million. So I&#8217;m not telling people to go out and take a highly leveraged loan. What I am doing, I think, is doing my best to lead the way and to normalize the bitcoin-backed financing industry,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/video\/2022\/04\/09\/watch-cnbcs-full-interview-with-microstrategy-ceo-michael-saylor-at-bitcoin-2022.html\">said Saylor<\/a>, who added that publicly traded crypto miner\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/MARA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marathon Digital<\/a>\u00a0also\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ir.marathondh.com\/sec-filings\/all-sec-filings\/content\/0001493152-21-024971\/0001493152-21-024971.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">took out a credit line with Silvergate Bank<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As bitcoin prices tanked this week, investors worried the company would be asked to put up more collateral for its loan, but Saylor said the fears were overblown.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The margin call is much ado about nothing,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/video\/2022\/06\/15\/once-you-understand-bitcoin-now-is-an-ideal-entry-point-to-the-cryptocurrency-says-microstrategy-ceo.html\">Saylor told CNBC earlier this week<\/a>. &#8220;It&#8217;s just made me Twitter famous, so I appreciate that&#8230;We feel like we have a fortress balance sheet, we&#8217;re comfortable, and the margin loan is well managed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Then on Wednesday afternoon, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/06\/15\/fed-hikes-its-benchmark-interest-rate-by-three-quarters-of-a-point-the-biggest-increase-since-1994.html\">Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rates three-quarters of a percentage point<\/a> in its most aggressive hike since 1994. The Fed said the move was made in an effort to curb sky-high inflation.<\/p>\n<p>Crypto prices initially rallied on the news as investors hoped we could avoid a recession, but that rally was short-lived.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\">Thursday\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/h2>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-107059229\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbedCaption\">Bitcoin and and other cryptocurrencies are in free fall.<\/div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbedCredit\">Dan Kitwood | Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>We were back in the red on Thursday. Bitcoin fell to around $20,000, to prices it hadn&#8217;t seen since the end of 2020.<\/p>\n<p>The losses were closely tied to a sell-off on Wall Street, in which the Dow fell 700 points to its lowest level in more than a year.<\/p>\n<p>It appears that investors can&#8217;t shake the fears of recession, and some say it could take time for cryptocurrencies to recover from the sell-off in riskier assets.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think that we&#8217;re in a long drawdown period here,&#8221; Jill Gunter, Espresso Systems co-founder &#038; chief strategy officer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/video\/2022\/06\/16\/crypto-is-in-a-long-drawdown-period-says-espresso-systems-jill-gunter.html\">told CNBC&#8217;s Squawk on the Street<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think that we&#8217;ve taken the elevator down, and I think that we, as an industry, are going to have to take the stairs back up and climb out by building real utility,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Gunter said that, in many ways, what we&#8217;re seeing is a &#8220;healthy washout.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One doesn&#8217;t want to, as a builder, as an investor for the long-term&#8230; be in a market where it&#8217;s being driven by just short-term price action, by speculation, as, let&#8217;s be honest, the crypto market has been largely over the last couple of years,&#8221; continued Gunter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"ArticleBody-subtitle\">Friday into Saturday<\/h2>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-107074597\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbedCaption\">Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fell sharply as investors dump risk assets. A crypto lending company called Celsius is pausing withdrawals for its customers, sparking fears of contagion into the broader market.<\/div>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbedCredit\">Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Carnage in the crypto markets shows no signs of slowing down, as bitcoin and ether continue their sell-off at a rapid clip on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>This comes as crypto hedge funds and businesses face growing questions about insolvency.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We had financial instability because of this opaque leverage, you just couldn&#8217;t tell where all these risks were building up,&#8221; Paxos CEO &#038; Co-Founder Charles Cascarilla <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/video\/2022\/06\/17\/its-fundamentally-a-positive-thing-that-crypto-markets-are-correcting-says-paxos-ceo.html\">told CNBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In some ways, this is just an age old story. You&#8217;re borrowing short and lending long. And I think it&#8217;s really unfortunate that people lost money, and I think it will, in some ways, set back the space, because you will lose some early adopters or some of the people who just came in new to the space,&#8221; continued Cascarilla.<\/p>\n<p>But Cascarilla also says that investors are still looking for quality crypto investments.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The fundamental technology here and the adoption curve that we see, the institutions that are coming in, how you can get your financial system to operate at the speed of the internet, those are things that need to happen,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<div class=\"RelatedContent-relatedContent\" id=\"SpecialReportArticle-RelatedContent-1\">\n<div class=\"RelatedContent-container\">\n<div class=\"RelatedContent-nonCollapsibleContent\">\n<h2 class=\"RelatedContent-header\">Read more about tech and crypto from CNBC Pro<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"PageBuilder-col-9 PageBuilder-col PageBuilder-article\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watch Daily: Monday &#8211; Friday, 3 PM ET      Bitcoin fell to about $17,749, and ether<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1522650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1522650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1522650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1522650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1522650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}