Bitcoin

Bitcoin slumped below $27000 Thursday for the first time in over 16 months, as cryptocurrency markets extended their losses amid fears over rising ...

Digital currency investors often turn to them for safety in times of volatility in the markets. Economists have long feared that tether may not have the required amount of reserves to bolster its dollar peg in the event of mass withdrawals. Adding to investors’ fears Thursday was a drop in the value of tether, the world’s biggest stablecoin. Ether, the second-biggest digital currency, tanked to as low as $1,789 per coin. That marks the first time bitcoin has sunk below the $27,000 level since Dec. 30, 2020. That’s a risky gamble, not least because bitcoin is itself an incredibly volatile asset.

A brutal selloff in cryptocurrencies has seen some $600 billion wiped off the market value of digital assets in a week.

Investors in stocks, bonds and commodities are all on edge right now. But in the market for cryptocurrencies, unease has morphed into full-on panic, ...

"A stablecoin known as TerraUSD experienced a run and had declined in value," Yellen said when she testified before the Senate earlier this week. Investors were unnerved that the inflation reading was worse than predicted. "Quite simply, we believe Disney+ is one of a kind." Why it matters: This may seem very in the weeds. TerraUSD first wavered and broke its peg to the US dollar last weekend. Tether was last below 99 cents to the dollar, dragging down bitcoin, too. The price of bitcoin fell as low as $26,350. , the central bank said there's little clarity on what really backs stablecoins, and noted that a few big players dominate a market with little oversight. Disney blamed "higher programming and production, marketing and technology costs." "The implications are just so large. Traditional stablecoins like Tether have become the bedrock of the crypto market, since they're theoretically fully backed by hard assets. Given the market's notorious swings, their use among crypto companies, exchanges and traders has shot up.

Amid a collapse in many cryptocurrency prices this week, fans of the Washington Nationals might have spotted an odd tweet from the baseball team's account.

“Prices had to come back down to earth, and it happened,” said Abraham Chaibi, co-founder of crypto trading firm Dexterity Capital. “This is not an existential crisis for crypto by any means.” The crypto crash has not spurred a groundswell of new momentum for creating clearer federal rules for the assets. The announcement drew criticism from the Labor Department and a pair of Democratic senators — Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Tina Smith (Minn.) — who wrote the company asking it to address the “significant risks of fraud, theft and loss” associated with the assets. Warren said this week’s meltdown in crypto prices underlines the danger for retirees. “There was a big drop in 2014, and then in 2018, there was a ‘crypto winter,’ and many smaller episodes in between. The NBA, for example, has bet big on it, with the Warriors, Mavericks and Heat all making splashy deals with crypto companies — a potential optics issue as all three teams play postseason games this week. The plunge in crypto prices tracks a broader move by investors to dump risky assets, such as tech stocks, as the Federal Reserve hikes interest rates to battle inflation. “After several years of missing out on the profits, many in traditional finance have just recently committed to getting involved in digital asset markets. In total, an estimated 40 percent of bitcoin holders are underwater on the asset, according to a new analysis from crypto analytics firm Glassnode. The exchange reported that its active monthly users dropped to 9.2 million in the first quarter of this year, down from 11.4 million in the previous quarter. It does not use algorithms the way UST does; the latter is an unorthodox method that essentially relies on trades instead of assets to back it up, which may be responsible for its plummet. Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based crypto trading platform, posted a first-quarter loss of $430 million on Tuesday as its stock continued a slide that has it down 79 percent this year.

Investors with money tied up in the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD, and its sister cryptocurrency Luna, have lost their shirts. As of Thursday morning, ...

By April, Luna was trading at more than $100, before slowly coming back to Earth. Yet, while the token was trading at about $80 just seven days ago, as of Thursday, it was basically worthless, down 99% over the past 24 hours, to about 1 cent per token,according to CoinMarketCap. The Luna cryptocurrency experienced a major run up since January 2021. The stablecoin’s instability has brought down its partner cryptocurrency substantially. BNB was down 59% Thursday from its high of $669 last November when crypto prices were peaking. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ether, was also down double digits on Thursday. The cryptocurrency was trading at $1,954, down 17% over 24 hours. Early last month, the crypto behemoth was priced at more than $40,000, but a slide that began on April 8 has shown no signs of letting up.

Crypto investors panicked as bitcoin and other digital coins continued to plummet. Titans who run leading marketplaces such as Coinbase and Binance were ...

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index is down 30% so far this year and has been heavily correlated with the price of bitcoin in recent weeks, according to Refinitiv data. “I feel for anyone who has been badly beaten up by what’s happening,” he said. Shares of Coinbase, the only major publicly traded cryptocurrency exchange, have fallen 84% since the company went public in April 2021. “I lost over 450k usd, I cannot pay the bank,” reads one of the top posts on the Reddit forum for Terra Luna, a cryptocurrency that has lost more than 99% of its value over the past week. “My ex-colleague attempted suicide,” reads another top post on the forum. While Luna’s collapse is the most spectacular, other cryptocurrencies are also in freefall.

Bitcoin plunged to its lowest level since December 2020 as a cryptocurrency selloff gathered steam Thursday. The world's largest cryptocurrency by market ...

- Target:Up to 60% off - Target Promo Code You may cancel your subscription at anytime by calling Customer Service. On the other, the decoupling of TerraUSD, a stablecoin whose value was tied to $1, has sent ripples through digital assets.

The cryptocurrency market continued to hemorrhage money Thursday, with the most popular coins down double-digit percentages over the past 24 hours.

But if you’re looking to pick up some cheap crypto, it’s probably a good idea to at least wait to see what happens with Tether in the coming days and weeks. And that’s exactly the kind of volatility that you already have with cryptocurrencies and doesn’t help people looking for a safe haven asset that can more easily be used to convert to fiat. First and foremost, look for exchanges to suddenly stop letting people from withdrawing money in the name of “scheduled maintenance,” something Binance U.S. already announced overnight would be happening this morning from 6:00 a.m. ET until 9:30 a.m. ET. The culprit for the crypto bloodbath was a chain reaction that started over the weekend when Terra’s stablecoin, TerraUSD, which is theoretically supposed to stay at $1, became “depegged” and started trading below a dollar. Tether, the most popular stablecoin in the world, also depegged for the first time early Thursday, dipping to $0.95 on major exchanges before recovering slightly to $0.98 as of this writing. And absolutely no one knows when things will bottom out, with many people worried the entire market of fake digital money could go to zero as the stablecoin Tether officially traded below $1 for the first time ever early Thursday.

The scale of the cryptocurrency selloff is massive, but this isn't the first time digital assets have seen intense volatility.

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Fidelity Investments is letting employers offer a bitcoin investment in 401(k) plans. But TDFs, the most popular retirement funds, aren't yet taking the ...

While crypto volatility and a hazy policy and regulatory outlook appear to be roadblocks, the asset class has created some long-term value, Ireland of State Street said. "I think that case still needs to be made." A plan administrator like Fidelity seems to carry little risk for simply making a 401(k) investment available. "We believe that long-term oriented retirement investors are well-served with a diversified portfolio of equities and bonds, which are liquid and transparent markets." Our target date strategies do not invest in crypto and have no near-term plans to do so." - Fidelity Investments is letting employers offer a bitcoin investment to 401(k) savers. T. Rowe is the No. 3 target-date manager by assets. More from Personal Finance: High inflation points to bigger Social Security COLA in 2023 How fast does inflation cut buying power? "It's certainly not a hard no," added Ireland, who heads the firm's global defined contribution team. Target-date funds captured 59% of all 401(k) contributions in 2020, according to Cerulli Associates. The funds harbor about a fourth of all 401(k) savings, the largest share relative to others, according to the Plan Sponsor Council of America. "Now you're the one making the decision, you're the one who has to face the firing squad if the market goes the wrong way," according to Chris Brown, founder of Sway Research, which analyzes investment distribution in 401(k) plans. (A 401(k) is a type of defined-contribution plan.) "But there's a lot more, I think, to understand here."

It has been a brutal couple of days for the global cryptocurrency market, as the price of major players such as Bitcoin and Ethereum crashed following the ...

TerraUSD, better known as UST, fell as low as 30 cents on the morning of May 11, rebounded to above 80 cents later that night, and had fallen back to about 60 cents on the morning of May 12, according to CoinMarketCap. UST’s sister coin, Luna, lost more than 90% of its value in the past week, the Washington Post reported. Meanwhile, overall interest in crypto trading appears to be on the wane. A worldwide selloff erased more than $200 billion of crypto wealth in the space of only 24 hours, Bloomberg reported, citing data from CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin sank by as much as 10% over the past day to hit its lowest point since Dec. 2020.

The price of bitcoin was under pressure again on Thursday, with even bigger losses among smaller cryptocurrencies, as the collapse of stablecoin UST ...

“Tether is struggling to hold its Peg. It is hurting all Crypto,” tweeted Jim Bianco, president of Bianco Research. “Confidence is shot in crypto and the risk of contagion is high. “It is clear that bulls have lost the battle, and the selling pressure is very much on. Some were blaming a fresh push lower on the crypto market’s largest stablecoin, Tether USTUSD, -11.43%, also referred to by USDT, which was trading below the buck at as low as 95 cents. Traders are supposed to be able to exchange UST for the equivalent of $1 of Luna, and when UST trades below $1, holders have an incentive to burn it and mint Luna LUNAUSD, -93.20%, which has also seen a massive slump. Luna was trading at 23 cents, a loss of 96% over the past 24 hours. The market’s recent downturn has largely triggered by the collapse of so-called algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD, or UST, which is supposed to maintain a one-to-one peg against U.S. dollars.

After his departure from Facebook in November, many crypto industry insiders speculated where long-time executive David Marcus would land.

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The new firm, dubbed Lightspark, will focus on building backend infrastructure for companies that want to use the Lightning network.

Lightning is a protocol built on top of Bitcoin with the aim of supporting transactions that are smaller and less expensive. "We’ve always been big believers in Bitcoin’s unique history and role in crypto. "Downturns are good moments to focus on the work and create value with mission-aligned people," press documents shared with The Block noted.

Not long after he left Meta, where he headed the Novi and Diem projects, the fintech pioneer is now building a startup on top of the bitcoin blockchain.

Marcus testified on Capitol Hill, but his hearing performance didn't pacify politicians, and the project struggled. While he had a highly successful tour through PayPal and Facebook, he is back to playing to his strengths." The Lightning Network is a project designed to create faster and cheaper transactions on top of the bitcoin network.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele revealed renderings earlier this week of Bitcoin City, which is designed by Mexican architect Fernando Romero, ...

The pitch is to power both the city and Bitcoin mining with the volcano’s geothermal energy, although the timing of the release was perhaps unfortunate. “Bitcoin City is coming along beautifully,” Bukele tweeted alongside a photo of the model. The proposed city, which is in the shape of a coin (also known as a circle), is supposed to sit between the Gulf of Fonseca and the Conchagua volcano.

SAN SALVADOR—Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele wanted to make a big splash at the glitzy crypto gathering last month in Miami, unveiling details of a ...

But first, he said, they need to get comfortable with the idea of a new form of money. “The 6 percent interest is a rip-off,” said Tatiana Marroquín, a Salvadoran economist and outspoken critic of the Bitcoin law. “He hasn’t followed through on the promises,” said Milla, an independent who was expelled from the conservative Arena party last year after the U.S. State Department blacklisted him in an unrelated matter, saying he corruptly facilitated the sale of a local island to a Chinese businessman (he denies wrongdoing). “Nothing’s going on. Such lackluster results have bred resentment in the expat-heavy community of Bitcoin enthusiasts and entrepreneurs that has sprung up in the country over the past year. Melvin Castillo, president of the ASCAV DE R.L. cooperative, explained how he came to use Bitcoin well before his president decided last June to make it an official currency. Around La Union, a seaside town near the site of the planned city, the landscape is still marked by dirt roads and open fields. At the Starbucks on Bulevar Del Hipodromo in an upscale section of San Salvador, a barista said that cash or credit remained the only way to pay. The anecdotal findings are echoed by a report released last month by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit. Indicative of the national attitude was Doris Ponce, a 43-year-old juice vendor with a stall on the main plaza in Conchagua, a hilltop town near the proposed site of Bitcoin City. She refused to take the digital currency. Older Salvadorans remembered another abrupt transition, when El Salvador adopted the United States dollar in 2001, eventually ditching its sovereign currency, the colón. Many in the country have grown attached to the greenback, and were not enthusiastic about the introduction of a volatile, intangible alternative. Instead of basking in the international limelight, he was implementing a host of draconian measures that included prison time for members of the media who report statements from criminal groups. In El Salvador we are trying to rescue this idea and start the design of a country for the future, using the best … ideas from history and around the world,” he said.

Analysts expect greater price swings because of macroeconomic risks and ongoing stablecoin woes.

The cryptocurrency crash is currently separating faithful followers from ambitious investors. Bitcoin — crypto's most stable coin — has dropped ...

That's the risk of trading." "If you were just trying to make some money playing the volatility of the crypto market, well that's on you. If you believe crypto is going to change the world, if you think that the chains and the coins that you're investing in and are accumulating are going to make positive changes in the coming years, then this is an opportunity," Bumbera said.