Bitcoin's Terrible Month Isn't Actually All That Bad

Billy Bambrough

Bitcoin has seen quite a heavy sell-off over the last 30 days but that was preceded by a bull run, leaving the bitcoin price more-or-less flat — and reminding investors to take a wider view of market movements.

Despite hitting highs of almost $7,500 earlier this month, the bitcoin price has dropped back to just over $6,300 today — pretty much exactly where it was some 30 days ago.

There were fears in early September bitcoin, as well as other major cryptocurrencies including ethereum, ripple, and litecoin, were going into freefall as investors panicked over whether the much anticipated institutional money that many have been expecting to be injected into the market will actually appear.

That sudden sell-off now seems to have stabilized — with many still feeling positive a major bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) could be approved this month by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Elsewhere, the New York Stock Exchange's parent company, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), plans to roll out a bitcoin ETF as part of its cryptocurrency platform Bakkt and in partnership with coffee chain Starbucks, software giant Microsoft, and Boston Consulting Group in November.

The price fall earlier this month was triggered by a Business Insider report that U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs was planning to ditch its plans to open a desk for trading cryptocurrencies due to the murky regulatory landscape.

BI reported:

Goldman has moved plans to open a desk for trading cryptocurrencies further down a list of priorities for how it can participate in cryptocurrency markets, according to people familiar with the matter.

In response, the bank released a statement: "We have not reached a conclusion on the scope of our digital asset offering," it said.

These kinds of short-term bitcoin price swings could, however, be bad news for a possible U.S. bitcoin ETF.

The SEC has previously rejected a raft of proposed ETFs as a result of bitcoin's volatility and despite the industry (slowly) maturing the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies still seems far from certain — something regulators will remain concerned about.

Published in : https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2018/09/19/bitcoins-terrible-month-isnt-actually-all-that-bad/#5721ed32c9a6

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