Bitcoin remains largely unregulated. Biden’s order raised hopes that will change.
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Cryptocurrencies plummeted, sending
Bitcoin
below $40,000 on Thursday as President Joe Biden’s Executive Order Wednesday price increase on the sector faded.
The order recognized the rapid growth of cryptocurrencies and detailed a national policy for dealing with digital assets, an area that has remained largely unregulated. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, fell 6% over 24 hours to around $38,846, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Ether also fell, falling 6% to $2,567.4.
Smaller cryptos such as Solana fell 7%, Cardano fell 6%, and popular meme token Dogecoin fell 5%.
Bitcoin and Ether remain well below their all-time highs reached in early November of $68,990 and $4,865, respectively.
Thursday’s drop follows a pattern seen in every rally since the start of the year, GlobalBlock analyst Marcus Sotiriou wrote in an email ahead of the February consumer price index release. “A higher-than-expected reading could send global markets further lower as investors may price in aggressive monetary policy from the Federal Reserve,” he said.
The consumer price index rose 0.8% in February from the previous month, the Labor Department reported Thursday, following a 0.6% increase in January. The annual increase was 7.9%, compared to 7.5% in January. Economists had expected prices to rise 0.7% in February for the month and 7.8% for the year.
Shares were down on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5% in morning trade, while the S&P 500 fell 1.1%.
Write to Logan Moore at [email protected]
