Feature
| Karin Wasteson

Bitcoin: a 5-day timeline

Since Wednesday, Bitcoin has experienced some of its bumpiest rides so far, as the recent volatility following the announcement by Mike Belshe has been extreme. The Sybarite has outlined a brief timeline of its volatile journey during the last few days.

8 November: Bitcoin hit a record high at just below $8,000. The dramatic surge followed the news that an upgrade that could have split the cryptocurrency in two would be put on the backburner.

Mike Belshe, chief executive of blockchain security firm BitGo, wrote an e-mail on Wednesday in which he said that an impending software upgrade called “Segwit2x” would be scrapped as it could “divide the community.” The e-mail was signed by several high-profile names in the Bitcoin space.

Bitcoin reached $7,888 on the Bitstamp exchange, a Luxembourg-based platform that allows trading between USD currency and bitcoin cryptocurrency, in the 20 minutes that followed Belshe’s announcement.

10 November: Bitcoin’s roller-coaster weekend begins. Having surged more than 500 percent this year, the virtual currency dropped 29 percent from its record high.

11 November: The cryptocurrency dropped a further 15 percent from Friday. Evidence emerged that investors started to cover their short positions.

13 November: As evidence emerged that bearish investors started to cover their short positions, Bitcoin was at $6,593.

“We have seen similar steep falls in Bitcoin throughout the year – specifically in June and September – but every time a considerable decline occurs, new investors jump in to experience the new asset class,” Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at ForexTime Ltd., a currency broker that uses the brand FXTM, wrote in a note to Bloomberg on Monday.

And even though Bitcoin has lost $38 billion in value since Wednesday, the currency still has a market value of about $110 billion.

The head of Tokyo-based Quoine, Mike Kayamori, is urging worried Bitcoin holders not to panic. “Just hold on to both coins until we see how it plays out,” he said.

Share
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You Might Also Like

Why not try one of these experiences?

Looking for inspiration?

Read the latest and most exciting global travel features, interviews, opinions, and more

Shhh... Come on in.

For our latest experiences and editorials, be the first in the know…