Bitcoin is hit by peak inflation in the US and Europe

This Monday, the price of BitcoinBitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency. It was created in 2009, by an anonymous founder or group of founders... More (BTCAn abbreviation for Bitcoin.) lost over 18%, amid a trend of massive sales that began last weekend. The rise to maximum inflation in the US and the increase in interest rates in Europe influenced this scenario.

For two weeks now, the Bitcoin price had been hovering above $29,000. However, this support was broken on Friday. Then, the cryptocurrencyA digital currency running on a blockchain and built with cryptography. Contrary to central-bank issued currency, cryptocurrency issuance rules are... started to lose steam and was at $21,500 on June 14, the lowest price recorded in 18 months [CoinMarketCap].

The market capitalization of the cryptocurrency also decreased. It went from $511 billion to $411 billion in 48 hours. Besides, the Crypto Fear and Greed Index is at 8, which means extreme fear among investors.

Reasons for the fall: EU and US inflation

The global economic outlook is bleak, and this has impacted the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In March, the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) announced an increase in interest rates, for the first time since 2018. This measure sought to curb rising inflation.

However, by the end of last week, the US Consumer Price Index report indicated that the costs recorded in May increased by 8.6% compared to last year. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) highlighted that this year-on-year increase is the highest recorded for 41 years.

Similarly, Europe recorded year-on-year inflation of 8.1%, its highest in 39 years and the highest since the euro existed. Given this, the European Central Bank (ECB) also decided to raise interest rates by 25 points. In these circumstances, the volume invested in risky assets such as cryptocurrencies tends to fall, since there’s a general preference for low-risk assets, which can serve as safe-havens.

Impact of inflation in other markets

The drop in the price of Ethereum is over 18%, standing at $1,180 on June 14. The stablecoin Tether (USDT) lost parity with the dollar to be worth $0.9987. BNB, for its part, lost 14.36%, and at the time of writing is worth $219, after the platform suspended withdrawals from the cryptocurrency for three hours.

Peak inflation in the US and Europe led some Bitcoin holders to start selling the cryptocurrency. The impact was also felt in traditional stock markets. For this Monday, the S&P500, Dow Jones and NASDAQ indices include falls of 3.88%, 2.79%, and 4.68%.

The correlation between the traditional market and crypto has reached its maximum levels. Therefore, the impact of maximum inflation in the US must be considered for the projections of the price of Bitcoin in the short and medium-term.

Wanna trade BTC, ETH, and other tokens? You can do it safely on Alfacash! And don’t forget we’re talking about this and a lot of other things on our social media.

Telegram * Instagram * YouTube *Facebook  *Twitter