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Agencies
After a hype-filled week for cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin experienced a flash crash over the weekend, plunging nearly 14% in less than an hour, from about $59,000 to $51,000, on Saturday night before rebounding. Other popular cryptocurrencies including etherium and Dogecoin also fell dramatically, before recouping some of their losses.
Bitcoin has skyrocketed in value this year as it gained more mainstream acceptance, but the sharp price fall this weekend seems to have been triggered by an unconfirmed Twitter rumor that the US Treasury was planning to crack down on money laundering schemes involving cryptocurrencies. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
Bitcoin’s rapid overnight plunge is the latest indicator that the crypto market remains wildly volatile.
Last week crypto enthusiasm seemed to reach a peak as trading platform Coinbase went public at a valuation of $86 billion, followed by a wild 500% rally in Dogecoin — an asset that was created as a joke in 2013. Cryptocurrency backers have spent years insisting that bitcoin, ethereum and other digital coins could revolutionize the world of finance, and with the success of Coinbase’s Wall Street debut Wednesday, those backers are finally having their moment.
Tesla has started accepting bitcoin payments for its cars and now holds some of the digital currency on its balance sheet. Payment processors including PayPal (PYPL), Mastercard (MA) and Visa (V) are trying to streamline crypto payments on their networks. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs will reportedly soon offer its private wealth management clients avenues to invest in bitcoin and other digital currencies and Morgan Stanley announced that it will offer its wealthy clients access to bitcoin funds.
For all those bitcoin true believers who survived the crypto winter of 2017-2020 with their holdings intact, the listing of digital currency exchange service Coinbase must have felt a vindication.
Not only did its $75.9bn listing on Nasdaq mark the biggest cash-out in crypto history, many would say it unequivocally established digital currencies as a force to be reckoned with on Wall Street. For crypto boosters the world over, more simply, it marked the day they were finally proven right.
“It feels like a shift in legitimacy not just for Coinbase but the whole industry. Crypto has a shot at being a major force in the financial world,” observed Coinbase’s chief executive Brian Armstrong.
The group’s valuation came hot on the heels of a stellar set of first-quarter earnings. The group posted revenues of $1.8bn for the period compared with $191m last year. It made net income of as much as $800m. That, the Street said, made it worthy of comparisons to the New York Stock Exchange’s parent company ICE, which has a valuation of around $67bn.
A more objective analysis would note this is not a fair comparison. Yes, ICE posted revenues of $1.6bn in the first quarter of 2020, putting Coinbase well in the same ballpark.
After a hype-filled week for cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin experienced a flash crash over the weekend, plunging nearly 14% in less than an hour, from about $59,000 to $51,000, on Saturday night before rebounding. Other popular cryptocurrencies including etherium and Dogecoin also fell dramatically, before recouping some of their losses.
Bitcoin has skyrocketed in value this year as it gained more mainstream acceptance, but the sharp price fall this weekend seems to have been triggered by an unconfirmed Twitter rumor that the US Treasury was planning to crack down on money laundering schemes involving cryptocurrencies. The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
Bitcoin’s rapid overnight plunge is the latest indicator that the crypto market remains wildly volatile.
Last week crypto enthusiasm seemed to reach a peak as trading platform Coinbase went public at a valuation of $86 billion, followed by a wild 500% rally in Dogecoin — an asset that was created as a joke in 2013. Cryptocurrency backers have spent years insisting that bitcoin, ethereum and other digital coins could revolutionize the world of finance, and with the success of Coinbase’s Wall Street debut Wednesday, those backers are finally having their moment.
Tesla has started accepting bitcoin payments for its cars and now holds some of the digital currency on its balance sheet. Payment processors including PayPal (PYPL), Mastercard (MA) and Visa (V) are trying to streamline crypto payments on their networks. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs will reportedly soon offer its private wealth management clients avenues to invest in bitcoin and other digital currencies and Morgan Stanley announced that it will offer its wealthy clients access to bitcoin funds.
For all those bitcoin true believers who survived the crypto winter of 2017-2020 with their holdings intact, the listing of digital currency exchange service Coinbase must have felt a vindication.
Not only did its $75.9bn listing on Nasdaq mark the biggest cash-out in crypto history, many would say it unequivocally established digital currencies as a force to be reckoned with on Wall Street. For crypto boosters the world over, more simply, it marked the day they were finally proven right.
“It feels like a shift in legitimacy not just for Coinbase but the whole industry. Crypto has a shot at being a major force in the financial world,” observed Coinbase’s chief executive Brian Armstrong.
The group’s valuation came hot on the heels of a stellar set of first-quarter earnings. The group posted revenues of $1.8bn for the period compared with $191m last year. It made net income of as much as $800m. That, the Street said, made it worthy of comparisons to the New York Stock Exchange’s parent company ICE, which has a valuation of around $67bn.
A more objective analysis would note this is not a fair comparison. Yes, ICE posted revenues of $1.6bn in the first quarter of 2020, putting Coinbase well in the same ballpark.
