Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt.
Bitcoin seemed to be on a roll earlier this month, reaching a new all-time high ten days ago. Now it’s struggling to break above its longstanding top of $69,000 set in November 2021. What’s going on?
For a start, Grayscale selling coins isn’t helping. The massive fund manager was again shifting crypto to its custodian as investors redeemed their shares.
Todd Sohn, an ETF and technical strategist at Strategas Securities, told Decrypt that it was likely due to “leftover holders desiring to leave this vehicle for a cheaper ETF.”
The redemptions—alongside uncertainty about the impact of the upcoming halving—have pushed the price of Bitcoin down: The biggest digital coin’s price now stands at $64,415, a weekly drop of nearly 7%, according to CoinGecko. Bitcoin was recently closing in on $74,000.
Ethereum isn’t faring much better, either. The second-biggest coin has dropped 10% over the week and is now worth $3,342.
The news of a “voluntary enquiry from a state authority that included a requirement for confidentiality” didn’t do the asset any favors.
Elsewhere, popular meme coins—which earlier this month piqued investor interest again—took a battering. The biggest ones experienced the biggest dips: Pepe, Dogwifhat, and Bonk are the week’s biggest losers. The assets are down 16%, 21%, and 28%, respectively.
Despite the current market pessimism, some reputable analysts are still confident over the long-term: global investment firm AllianceBernstein this week forecasted that Bitcoin would hit $90,000 by the end of the year.
A Monday report from Standard Chartered, meanwhile, claimed that Ethereum could hit $8,000 by the end of this year, and $14,000 is possible by the end of 2025.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.