Bitcoin rose to around $48,000 level on Monday as long-term investors went for value buying opportunities after the world’s oldest cryptocurrency dipped to below the $44,000 zone on selling by short-term investors during the weekend trading. The rise in the digital asset also came amidst the sharp recovery in global markets as US Treasury yields steadied.
Bitcoin moved in a wide range of $43,345.26-47,919.86 zone during the past 24 hours and was trading at $47,905.24, up by 5.3% at around 5.45pm IST, as per cryptocurrency tracker CoinGecko.
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“Bitcoin price fell below the $50,000 price range to $44,000 last week. This is the highest price move downwards since March 2020. Short-term traders taking profits is just part of the reason. Signs point to bitcoin changing hands from short-term traders taking profits to long-term investors buying bargains. If the price drop was simply traders getting out after a good run in a bubble asset, you might have seen it drop much farther. Some of these fresh buyers are likely to have a 10-year investment plan, not 10 weeks,” said Rahul Pagidipati, chief executive officer, ZebPay.
Meanwhile, ethereum, the second-biggest digital currency, was trading 11% higher at $1,525.53, while ripple was at $0.43, up by 3%.
Bitcoin has been on a downward trajectory after topping the $58,000 zone last week as experts noted that the rally in the cryptocurrency looked overstretched. Fuelled by interest from major corporations such as Tesla and MicroStrategy, bitcoin had hit its all-time high level of $58,640.77 on 21 February. However, it has fallen by around 18% since then.
In another sign of crypto’s mainstreaming, Coinbase is preparing for an IPO in the US with an expected valuation of over $100 billion.
“India has many blockchain companies looking forward to doing the same. In fact, ZebPay was headed in that direction in 2018 and given our recent record volumes, we might well be in a position to do a similar IPO (as might other companies). With positive regulations, India’s crypto industry could create a number of billion-dollar unicorns in the next few years,” said Pagidipati.
