Having bounced back from the Coincheck-hack crash, cryptocurrencies are extending yesterday’s ugliness today and accelerating to the downside…
Bitcoin is back below the Coincheck crash lows…
There are no clear catalysts for this drop.
Deutsche Bank executives have suggested that “governance” that will legitimize crypto investments could exist in “five to ten years.”
Originally speaking in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Jan. 29, Mueller cautioned against current investment in cryptocurrency as only for those “who invest speculatively” while appealing for businesses in the sphere to work together with regulators.
“Once security and the corresponding trust have been created, cryptocurrencies can be assessed and evaluated like established asset classes,” he forecast.
“It’s possible that the required governance will be in existence in five to ten years.”
Deutsche Bank has traditionally taken a bearish view on cryptocurrencies as prices rise, cautioning in December that a major fall in Bitcoin was being “discounted as a small issue” by financial markets.
The lack of volatility in traditional stocks was driving investor interest in more risky assets such as Bitcoin, fellow Deutsche Bank analyst Masao Muraki determined in a note mid-January.
“Now, a growing number of institutional investors are watching cryptocurrencies as the frontier of risk-taking to evaluate the sustainability of asset prices,” he wrote.
Germany continues to fall behind in its treatment of cryptocurrencies at consumer level, providing a stark contrast to initiatives in other countries, such as neighboring Switzerland.
Earlier this month, the country’s central bank director nonetheless precluded comments from UK and US lawmakers at the World Economic Forum 2018 that regulation of cryptocurrency should be a joint international effort.
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As a reminder this early-year weakness in crypto is not unusual…
As CoinTelegraph notes, the lead up to Chinese New Year is one of high spending as people book all sorts of travel and holidays, not to mention buy presents. Thus, just like Christmas and December is a time for spending in the West, January has a similar pattern in the east.
With Bitcoin’s value almost halving from $20,000 in the middle of December to $10,000 at its worst in January, Wallin is both unperturbed or surprised.
“The January drop is a recurring theme in cryptocurrencies as people celebrating the Chinese New Year, aka Lunar New Year, exchange their crypto for fiat currency,” explains Alexander Wallin, CEO of trading social network SprinkleBit, as quoted by Bloomberg.
“The timing is about four to six weeks before the lunar year when most people make their travel arrangements and start buying presents,” he added.
The holiday takes place on Feb. 16; however, the build-up is where people start to spend their money. And with the Chinese population heavily vested in Bitcoin, it has a huge role to play on the movement of the market.
The thoughts are that people have been taking their profits into the build-up of the New Year, turning their Bitcoin into fiat currency to use for gift buying.
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