Bitcoin crashes to 15-month low after SEC postpones ETF decision again
Bitcoin has fallen to its lowest value in more than a year as it slipped closer to $3,000.
The cryptocurrency hit $3,348 this morning, according to Luxembourg crypto exchange Bitstamp, after a sell-off starting late last night that saw it lose as much as 7.8 per cent in value to drop to its lowest point since September 2017.
It is the latest development in a woeful period for the world’s biggest digital currency after losing almost half of its value since the middle of November.
Bitcoin crashed through the $4,000 barrier late last month on the back of global pressure to regulate the cryptocurrency amid fears of its vulnerability to use by criminals.
Its latest crash comes almost a year after all-time value peaked at almost $20,000, as investors reacted to the news that there will be no bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) this year,
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday chose to delay plans for a bitcoin ETF, kicking its decision into late February next year instead.
The SEC was due to rule on whether an ETF backed by investment firm Van Eck and blockchain company Solid X could list on Chicago’s options exchange, but has postponed a decision now for the second time.
“The Commission finds it appropriate to designate a longer period within which to issue an order approving or disapproving the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time to consider this proposed rule change,” it said.
“The price of bitcoin has crippled on the back of this and I think it is likely that the price may not only drop below the $2,000 mark, but with this kind of momentum behind it, the price can test the $1,500 level,” Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets, said.
“Simply put, the bad news keeps coming just like cockroaches coming out of a hole.”
He added that rival cryptocurrency ethereum has lost its potential, dropping below $100 to $83 this morning – a 13 per cent drop on its price from yesterday.