SINGAPORE – In the wake of rising US bonds lifting the greenback broadly and hurting other safe assets that yield no income, cryptocurrencies slumped on Monday, with bitcoin falling more than 12% marking a one-week low.
Bitcoin slumped as far as $33,447 and ethereum, which also moves along with bitcoin, witnessed a fall of 20% touching a one-week low of $1,007.51.
The slumps are much larger than the 1% drop that sent gold prices hurtling to a one-month low. They also mirror a wider dollar bounce against major fiat currencies.
“It’s just another way of expressing a dollar view,” said Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone in Melbourne.
“I know it’s a macro play as well, but I do think that gold and bitcoin have been used in a fairly similar capacity,” he said.
Losses trimmed a bit by lunchtime in Asia placing bitcoin at $35,192 – which is 16% below a record rise of $42,000 last week.
If it sustains, the dip would be the third consecutive session of losses since the record high for the cryptocurrency.
