Chances are that if Bitcoin gets brought up in conversation, that conversation will go one or two ways: either the people discussing it will love it or they will hate it; either they will want to invest all of their money in the digital currency or they will argue that it is a speculative bubble. For a while, diehard Bitcoin fans had the majority of the world fooled, as the virtual currency was showing no signs of slowing down, but all of that changed this week.
The markets have just opened, but there is already a lot of news getting pumped out to the world. Forget that Trump officially signed the tax bill package (but that is something to keep in the back of your mind), the most notable news reaching the masses this morning is the fact that Bitcoin dropped more than 40% Friday, and Coinbase, one of the most popular platforms for purchasing and selling virtual currencies, disabled trading due to price fluctuation in cryptocurrencies.
Dear Sweet Bitcoin….What Happened?
Let’s start with the first major shock of the day: after reaching an all-time high on December 10, Bitcoin plummeted Friday morning, dropping to a low of $10,400 on the Coinbase exchange. Even though Bitcoin made its way back to trading close to $12,750 mid-morning, this is still pretty shocking considering it was only last week that the digital currency soared above the $19,800 mark.
Based on this week’s results, it’s obvious that Bitcoin has a control over society and whether it is announcing good news or bad news, it is bound to create some sort of domino effect. Take Thursday, December 21 for example: after Bitcoin dropped more than 5% in 24 hours, shares of both Bitcoin Trust (OTCMKTS:GBTC) and Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT) dropped more than 15%.
With that being said, I’m sad to report that it’s not just Bitcoin struggling on Friday. In fact, most major cryptocurrencies took a hit this morning, with the likes of Litecoin down just over 30%.
Coinbase, I Don’t Think We’re in Kansas Anymore
To think investors weren’t confused enough with the significant Bitcoin drop, Coinbase, a San Francisco-based digital currency exchange, announced Friday morning that had “temporarily” disabled all purchasing and selling. The Coinbase team is reportedly looking into the problem.
It was only a month ago that it was disclosed that Coinbase had more users than stock brokerage Charles Schwab, and for those reasons and many more, it is surprising to realize that this isn’t the first issue the exchange has faced in recent months. It’s vastly popular, and yet on December 12, just two days after bitcoin hit an all-time high, Coinbase “temporarily suspended” all purchasing and selling of Ethereum, which is a blockchain technology-based platform that is both public and open-source.
The Takeaway
Considering we are approaching the new year, I’m sure those who have invested in Bitcoin did not want to have these sorts of worries going into 2018. Check back in January and we’ll see if Bitcoin makes a turnaround, or if it is just a speculative bubble like people have been saying for months.
Featured Image: twitter
