Crypto plunge gives Indian investors the jitters
crypto investors with Bitcoin seeing its most significant weekly drop since the November 2022 FTX crash.
In the past week, Bitcoin declined 11.5%, hitting $26,023.33 according to Coingecko's data at 5.30 PM on Monday. Similarly, significant alternative cryptocurrencies like Ethereum fell 9.7%, Ripple's lost 16.9%, Solana crashed 13.3%, and memecoins such as Dogecoin and Shiba Inu declined by nearly 16%.
The broader market was already in a bear phase, but Bitcoin faced an 8% plunge on August 18 as Elon Musk's SpaceX reportedly divested its Bitcoin holdings, akin to Tesla.
SpaceX had accumulated $373 million in Bitcoin during 2021-2022.
“Bitcoin’s fall below $26000 last week was the biggest decline for BTC in almost over a year,” said Siddhartha Gupta, SVP, Business and Strategic Alliances, CoinDCX.
Simultaneously, investor concerns were heightened by the Federal Reserve's July minutes suggesting possible interest rate hikes.
Moreover, large Bitcoin holders selling off their investments in the futures market and China's second-largest property developer, China Evergrande, filing for US bankruptcy, added to the uncertainty to the economic landscape.
“Market sentiments changed very quickly after the Tesla news and then there was a bunch of negative news which just kept adding to the prevailing uncertainty. It looks like bearish sentiment will remain until there is more regulatory clarity,” said Vishal Gupta, a Noida-based Crypto investor.
Many Indian cryptocurrency investors have halted their investments following a 30% tax on crypto earnings enforced by the government.
