Bitcoin drops below $20,000
The price of Bitcoin fell below $20,000 for the first time since November 2020 on Saturday, amid a broader market meltdown driven by rising interest rates, inflation and economic uncertainty spurred by the war in Ukraine, The New York Times reports.
The plunge — it sank to $19,149 at one point Saturday — took place over several months for Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency. Its fall was accelerated in recent weeks by the collapse of two major cryptocurrency projects, Terra-Luna and Celsius, while sowing doubts about the stability of the overall cryptocurrency market.
The drastic sell-offs show how intertwined and complex the crypto markets have become in recent years, said R.A. Farrokhnia, a professor at Columbia Business School who specializes in financial technology. As investors flee to less risky assets, “this creates a cascade effect on top of the contagion effect,” he said.